Thank you for attending the Chartered Quality Institute's breakfast session at the Faculty of Medical Leadership & Management Conference 2013: "Creating the culture of quality in healthcare".
“Why are we here? We are here to come alive, to have fun, to have joy in work” - Dr W Edwards Deming
An example of fun, of joy in work: the New York Children's hospital CT scanner
I have given a few links here to resources I have found helpful, and to which I will add:
Dr W Edwards Deming (1900-1993): one of the undisputed masters of quality improvement; he defined much about the culture of an organization, good and bad, highlighting points for improvement as well as 'deadly diseases' for organizations to avoid. His points for improvement were adapted for hospitals and remain a challenge and call to action today.
Books & papers
"Out of the Crisis" - a text summarising Deming's main ideas
"The New Economics"
"Four Days With Dr Deming" - not by Deming, but the last book approved by him; a description of the four-day course he ran for senior managers
Selected papers that Dr Deming wrote, courtesy of the Deming Institute (also gives a little more background on the man himself)
Health Foundation: http://www.health.org.uk
The European Foundation for Quality Management (now EFQM)
A body established by leading companies (including BMW, Bosch & Volkswagen) who have developed a model for excellence, describing the leaders/leadership of excellent organizations and how they value people (among other things).
Konusuke Matsushita (1894-1989)
The founder of Panasonic & JVC who learned from Deming, Matsushita had profound insights into the nature of leadership, in particular his comparison of his own management style with the usual Western style.
Further Learning:
The Institute for Health Improvement (IHI) Open School
Fantastic resource, free to students and those with an academic e-mail address; you can take the IHI Open
Royal College of Physicians Learning To Make A Difference Project
If you are a Core Medical Trainee, you can replace a clinical audit with a quality improvement project under the LTMD initiative. LTMD also contains a basic framework for how to do a QI project, which is useful whatever your background.
The Chartered Quality Institute
The CQI is a chartered body providing training and resources to people who 'do' quality in industry: I have found their courses to be at a higher level than anything I have found in the NHS. There are a number of courses, but seven lead to a Certificate in Quality Management Practices, a qualification that allows professional membership of the CQI.
Even without that training, you can become an Associate Member of the CQI and (for free) join the CQI's Health Special Interest Group.
A final thought: if you do nothing else, make one change for NHS Change Day in March 2014
