Background

Critically analyse the ‘ABC hospital’ and devise an innovation in terms of quality improvement using the PDCA cycle.

Healthcare organizations strive to provide the best of medical facilities to the patients all over the world. In order to ensure proper disposal of the facilities, it is extremely important to maintain a frequent quality check and ensure that the services being dispensed are up to the mark (Bernardo et al.2015). This assignment deals with the critical analysis of ‘ABC hospital’ and devise an innovation in terms of quality improvement using the PDCA cycle.

The ‘ABC’ hospital is one of the most renowned hospitals that has an excellent group of doctors working for the organization. The hospital has a strict hierarchal structure and operations are carried out in accordance of the same classification. The first level of hierarchy is occupied by the administrative post holders such as the board of directors headed by the CEO. Under the first classification is a segmentation of various portfolios dealing with business operation, emergency care, ancillary services and customer support. The hospital has an efficient quality control unit as well that is responsible for monitoring and double verifying the pharmaceutical products being used at the hospital (Clark et al.2013). However, it has been observed that despite maintaining the quality check regularly there are some unidentified lacunas that are not addressed adequately with the parameters of quality control standards. The identified quality concern with respect to ‘ABC hospital’ is the problem associated with the safe disposal of medical wastes to minimise contamination or transmission of infections.

 

Fig: The PDCA Cycle

The PDCA cycle or the Plan, Do, Check and Act cycle is the most famous business tool that is used to check and compare the efficiency of a new business strategy that is expected to be introduced for the expand the profit margins of the company (De Oliveira 2013). However, it is critical here to note here that the PDCA cycle is not restricted to be used only as a business tool that would take care of the innovation in terms of business strategies. The PDCA cycle in this assignment has been used to devise a new approach to deal with the problems associated with the safe disposal of biological waste and hence it can be commented that in this context the cycle has been used to study the effectiveness of a new quality assurance strategy (Johnson 2016). The following sections would deal with the considerations of factors listed under each of the segments of the PDCA cycle. Each of the factors are critically considered before the implementation of the new strategy (Matsuo and Nakahara 2013).

Application of PDCA cycle

Planning involves the thought process that is responsible behind the designing of the new approach. It involves keeping in mind a set of ethical considerations and answering a set of framed questions in order to assert the objective related to the fulfilment of the expected outcome. In this case, the concern is regarding the safe disposal of the hazardous biological waste and the concerned questions would include the following,

What are the existing waste treatment options in the hospital?

To what extent is the designing of a new approach required?

How would the effectiveness of the implemented new strategy accessed?

Based on these questions the planning objectives of the quality project that has been undertaken is asserted.

This segment identifies the list of actions that need to be undertaken in order to satisfy the above stated objectives. It involves conducting a thorough research on the best disposal techniques used by other hospitals. It also deals with the comparison of the hospital budget in order to ensure the possibilities of incorporating newer machines that can successfully treat the medical waste generated at the hospital and reduce the contaminations associated with it (Peitrzak and Paliszkiewicz 2015). This segment deals with the preparation and assessment of available budget for the successful implementation of the new innovations.

This segment deals with double verification of the installed devices that are incorporated for the efficient management of waste disposal. The first phase of this segment involves performing a thorough scrutiny on the efficacy of the current installed devices and the second phase deals with accessing the reduction rate of contamination in the hazardous sample in comparison to the data recorded earlier before the successful implementation of the treatment devices (Runciman et al.2017).

This segment involves the analysis of the series of actions that have been undertaken and accessing the degree of enhanced efficiency using a set of defined parameters. In case of ‘ABC hospital’ the effectiveness of actions undertaken are considered according to the databases recorded in the past. The possibility of expecting a positive outcome is contrasted with the achieved outcomes and in the same way the further strategies involving the same principles are devised (Salman et al.2014).

The following table shows the necessary actions that need to be undertaken in order to efficiently incorporate the change related to quality consideration so that the efficacy of the project can be improved.

Quality-improvement innovation	Requisite time span	Expected outcome
Installation of in-house automatic autoclave machine	1-2 weeks	Complete sterilisation of bacterial wastes including cessation of bacterial spores
Installation of a medical waste incinerator	1-3 weeks	Efficient and controlled burning down of infectious medical wastes in order to reduce risks associated with contamination
Installation of Vitrification chambers	3-5 weeks	Conversion of high risk associated medical hazardous wastes to glass to avoid problems related to diffusion and environmental pollution
Installation of automatic devices for irradiation	4 weeks	Treatment of hazardous wastes with radioactive rays that would help in reducing risk factors associated with the transmission of carcinogenic infections.

In order to achieve the above said objectives, it is important to consider that each of the goals would further involve imparting a special set of skill based training to the professionals who would be entrusted with the duty of handling all the equipment. The training would be imparted by a committee of quality assurance provided and after the installation of the devices a double verification check would be done in order to make sure that the devices are not faulty (Woldgebriel et al.2014). Also, it is important to note that a professional team would be kept under strict supervision of the quality control and assurance team in order to avoid any manhandling of the machines and any other discrepancies associated with the same.

Plan

Fig: Difference in statistics after implementation

Conclusion:

Quality management is an integral part of hospital administration and it is extremely important to note that the quality assurance is not a parameter to compromise. The paper deals with the management of hazardous biomedical waste and it is one of the most critical considerations related to hospital management industry as it leads to the transmission of a huge number of infectious diseases and deterioration of community health and hygiene. The paper has primary highlighted the major issues pertaining to the problems associated with bio medical waste treatment in close association with the ‘ABC hospital’. Further, the paper also focuses on the quality improvement strategies that have been designed in order to be undertaken by the concerned hospital. The strategies include the use of biomedical treatment devices such as incinerators, autoclave machines, vitrification and irradiation chambers. The implementation of the strategies include considering each of the four aspects of the PDCA cycle at each and every step. Also, in order to access the success rate of the implemented strategies a comparison with respect to the database of the previous year was analysed based on the criteria of complains from the community based near the hospital in terms of percentage of infection, foul odour, breach of hospital policies, spreading of litter by local animals and number of complains. The results showed a significant decrease in all the above said factors after the successful implementation of all the waste management strategies. Therefore, it can be said that in order to access the level of efficient planning and implementation of successful quality control policies, the first step would involve the identification of the existing lacuna that needs to be taken immediate care of. The second step would involve the identification of the objectives and the requisite planning required to take up a course of action. Once the planning is done, the next step involves successful implementation of the designed strategies and finally enforcing the strategies under strict supervision of the quality control department. Therefore for the successful operation of business strategy it is important to address all the necessary requisites and then develop a course of action.

References:

Bernardo, M., Simon, A., Tarí, J. J., and Molina-Azorín, J. F. 2015. Benefits of management systems integration: a literature review. Journal of Cleaner Production, 94, 260-267.

Clark, D. M., Silvester, K., and Knowles, S. 2013. Lean management systems: creating a culture of continuous quality improvement. Journal of clinical pathology, jclinpath-2013.

De Oliveira, O. J. 2013. Guidelines for the integration of certifiable management systems in industrial companies. Journal of Cleaner Production, 57, 124-133.

Johnson, C. N. 2016. The benefits of PDCA. Quality Progress, 49(1), 45.

Matsuo, M., and Nakahara, J. 2013. The effects of the PDCA cycle and OJT on workplace learning. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 24(1), 195-207.

Pietrzak, M., and Paliszkiewicz, J. 2015. Framework of Strategic Learning: The PDCA Cycle. Management (18544223), 10(2).

Runciman, B., Merry, A., and Walton, M. 2017. Safety and ethics in healthcare: a guide to getting it right. CRC Press.

Salman, R. A. S., Beller, E., Kagan, J., Hemminki, E., Phillips, R. S., Savulescu, J., … and Chalmers, I. 2014. Increasing value and reducing waste in biomedical research regulation and management. The Lancet, 383(9912), 176-185.

Woldgebriel, S., Kitaw, D., and Beshah, B. 2014. Quality improvement approaches and models in healthcare. Industrial Engineering & Management, 3(03), 2169-0