Quality1a Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Quality1a - Essay Example W. Edwards Deming is an authority of the quality management movement. He came up with the cycle of improvement known as the ‘Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA). Edwards created this cycle to assist organizations to plan protocols through which they can develop quality services in health care. Through PDSA, healthcare organizations will first identify areas that require improvements, and then form plans to better develop these areas. In the ‘do’ phase, the plans are then tested; after which they analyze and interpret performance statistics in the ‘study’ phase. If the changes being enacted lead to improvement, they will then be implemented in the ‘act’ stage. There are other additional foundational frameworks that are addressed in the implementation of QI in different sectors. Each of them function as quantitative parameters for evaluating progress in health related matters such as the decrease in maternal deaths in childbirth, immunization rates, and the number of physicians that are available to serve given numbers of patients.  According to Leischow & Milstein (2006) FOCUS PDCA, API, ISO 9000, Baldrige Criteria, Lean, and Six Sigma, are additional frameworks that are employed in the improvement of healthcare quality. Why do various health care stakeholders define the quality of care differently? Quality is defined in different ways by various healthcare stakeholders. This is due to the fact that health care quality deals with intricate aspects of care from several perspectives. Quality can be measured through the character of the results that are gotten after implementing new outcomes or may be determined through process, in how health care is delivered to patients. Essentially, the definition of quality relies on the person that is describing the quality. Healthcare providers, such as nurses, will have a different definition from healthcare researchers, for instance. On the other hand, government officials working in t he healthcare sector will define quality in a different way from patients who receive the end product of treatment. What are the roles of various clinicians and patients in QI? Stakeholders in the healthcare sector who stand to benefit in different ways from the implementation of quality improvement include medical practitioners, patients, contractors, government official who work in the healthcare sector, and various healthcare organizations. These stakeholders have significant roles in contributing towards the implementation of quality improvement (Lee, 2007). For patients, quality improvement is important because it affects their chances of getting the best treatment.  Medical care providers, on the other hand, care for quality improvement because their tasks and responsibilities will be simplified if processes of improvement are implemented in their facilities. For instance, the implementation of quality processes will allow them to be able to easily monitor the spread of dise ases in the public. The payers like Medicaid and Medicare, on the other hand, make it possible for the medical provider to develop quality by means of incentives that support quality improvement. Healthcare organizations  can contribute towards the development of performance measures and standards that update the processes involved in quality improvemen

Fair Payment System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Fair Payment System - Essay Example A rapidly growing body of literature and research indicates that flexibility and equity have now come to occupy a vital place in remuneration schemes and the inability of strike a balance might results in breach of psychological contract. This brings us to some relevant concepts in the discussion of fair pay system today. First we need to understand that when an employee starts working for an organization, it establishes a relationship between the employer and the employee. We call these exchange relationships since employee promises to offer something for the payment he hopes to receive. His services include loyalty, dedication, commitment and good performance. In return he hopes to be paid in a way that would match his talents and his input. One very important concept in this regard is that of equity theory that helps us to see why we need flexibility and fairness while creating a remuneration strategy. Equity theory studies the psychological acknowledgment of being treated equally. This is a very relevant concept and one that is being used increasing in developing fair pay system. Equity theory states that employees must feel that they are being treated fairly when they compare their pay with those of their counterparts at the same position. This is where inputs and rewards are closely studied. Employees would want to make sure that their input, if it is equal, must follow equal rewards. Adams (1965) explained that equity theory studies the ingrained mental process that allows a person to see how are efforts being rewarded and whether or not same efforts are being rewarded with similar returns. Equity theory further states that if people experience inequity, they will change their behavior in order to attain the feelin g of equity or remove the tension that arises from the feeling of inequity. If they feel that their ratios are lower when compared to those of their colleagues in the same position, they will start behaving in a negative fashion to bring their ratios at par with their efforts. Some will start coming late to work, or decrease their inputs or not meet deadlines etc. Psychological contract is another important concept which has been helpful in developing fair pay systems. Argyris (1960) who coined this term describes it as a 'set of practical and emotional expectations of benefits that employees and employers can reasonably have of each other.' Since that time, the term has been defined and redefined a number of times with Rousseau's definition becoming most influential: 'An individual's belief regarding the terms and conditions of a reciprocal exchange agreement between the focal person and another party A psychological contract emerges when one party believes that a promise of future returns has been made, a contribution has been given and thus, an obligation has been created to provide future benefits'. (Rousseau 1989) Pay is generally the most important part of the contents of a psychological contract. In a UK study conducted by Herriot et al. (1996), it was found that employees used fairness and pay most frequently when work environment was discussed. It was the two things that topped the list of things that employees paid attention to when discussion of work environment came up. Pay for performance is the third most commonly discussed concept in development of fair pay system. Recent developments in the field of management and performance-based evaluation systems provide conclusive evidence of the fact that the understanding of