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Abstract
This article reviews the ability of diagnostic laboratory to satisfy its client need without incurring many expenses. It entails the required changes in the laboratory to operate through applying lean thinking principles. It requires total quality management in order for the laboratory to embrace the required change to give quality diagnostic services to clients. It criticizes the aspect that total quality management is applied in managing most of many institutions despite the shortcoming involved in applying the principles. It critically covers arguments indicating the validity or invalidity of my argument. It also shows the cost which a diagnostic laboratory goes through to incorporate quality management (Bounds, Adams & Ranney, 1994, p.38).
Introduction
Lean thinking has the ability to satisfy customers demands in efficient manner, with reliability and very little expenses are incurred. The services of offered by the diagnostic laboratory should be standard quality and in position to meet the customers requirements. Laboratory should charge considerable fair prices for the services offered. The procedure followed by the lab technicians should be of value to the client. Administration should cut down high expenditures, which are due to; transport, errors and poor result processing. Lab administration should put in place standard prices for the diagnostic lab services offered (Bounds, Adams & Ranney, 1994, p.33).
Diagnostic laboratory should do its work accurately for it to achieve the required continuous quality improvement. Laboratory technicians should be committed to investigating on diseases and releasing out the accurate results for the doctors to make right diagnosis. Lean thinking focus on numerous constant reviews on a patient by the laboratory staff for them to get the right results (Boyden, 1984, p.88). Right diagnoses make it simpler for physicians to come up with right clinical diagnosis. Patient review gives a room for correcting errors. Patient continued investigational review should be done to come up with right diagnosis.
Laboratory technicians should provide an enabling laboratory environment, which gives room for laboratory investigation. The laboratory should be safe for the workers. Administration should take measures to ensure that health hazards are contained and no infections are transmitted to the lab workers while carrying out the lab investigation or any other individuals. Protective measures like use of protective clothing lab coats and protective gloves should be embraced to maintain maximum staff protection from contracting diseases when working (Cross, 1981, p.100).
Laboratory should be restricted to all people who are not authorized or those people who at risk of contracting infections from the lab. For a lab technician to come up with conclusion on a particular diagnosis he/she should reflect on the various consideration. Working environment will reflect on outcome of results. Unconducive and poor facilities in the lab will contribute to obtaining incorrect results. Failure to follow the required diagnosis procedure will contribute to wrong finding or wrong diagnosis this will lead to mismanagement of patient since the doctor will follow on wrong lab results to treat patient.
Poor working environment will contribute to poor quality laboratory services. Early detection of diseases translates to better prognosis. An example is cancer.if detected early enough it possible to cure before it metastasizes. If laboratory does collect biopsy early enough and come up with diagnosis before it spreads it make possible to manage the disease before it spreads. Time is important to improving the total quality management of diseases it is possible and efficient to handle large number of patient within short duration. Better time management in a laboratory will help in reducing health facility congestion.
Delayed diagnosis cause a delay in patient treatment resulting to congestion. If diagnosis is done early, the patients are released home hence limiting the number of patient in the ward. Timely diagnosis will make patient happy and satisfied since they are assured of being healed after taking medication. laboratory administration is in a position to working out on other strategies when time factor is well, considered like ways of expanding on the laboratory in terms of facilities and work force(Asadoorian, 2001, p. 225).
Change required in laboratory operations and how adopting lean thinking principles should make changes operate effectively
Mission objective is important in quality improvement of diagnostic laboratory. Administration should set up a mission to accomplish.this mission should be known to all members of laboratory. Mission of this lab is providing accurate disease investigations. Attaining their task is depended on quality guidelines, the aspect of quality and means of assessing quality of their duty. The lab administration provides services such as helping patients to achieve required health status through diagnosing and treating infections/illness. In addition, it is focused on preventing disease infection through health education to its staff and community.
Having mission diagnostic laboratory is able to increase the value/standards of services offered by the laboratory. Mission will keep the staff focus and be able to perform toward attaining particular objective (Tichy, 1993, p.45).
Perfection as lean thinking boost on attaining the required objective. Setting of mission by the laboratory administration will enable it to attain their objective easily.
Change is required in quality improvement of the lab services. This will assure patient of getting standard services required. Perfection is easily attained when the staff put into consideration the quality of services they offer to patients. Flow is required in addressing lab operation activities. This improvement will be contributed to by achievement of excellent in providing diagnostic services to the patients. To improve their service, lab has to carry out accurate lab diagnosis and upgrade its technical staff on new technology through teaching. The main agenda will be to promote quality diagnostic services to its clients (Kenneth, 2005, p.41).
Emphasis on the importance of carrying out research by technicians is vital. They should keep in touch with the current development in technology. Record keeping is an important practice by the laboratory. Patients detail should be kept for future reference. Recording system should allow easy information retrieval. Practicing record keeping will add value to lab services. It is a form of perfecting the operations of the lab. Records keeping help to maintain the standards of operations. It can be used in confirming the progress of the lab (Barney, 1991, p.15).
Use of electronic recording system to reduced errors, like drug prescription errors, disease diagnosis and test procedures. Investigation machine are automated to check on allergic reaction possible after drug /food interactions, right drug doses among other tests. Use of computerized physician order entry will reduce medication errors and the possible allergic reaction related to medication. These way miscellaneous medical errors are evaded as compared to use manual handwriting and or verbal orders. It is important to embrace use of new technology in the operation of this lab. Change requires acquisition of new more facilities to be in a position to offer accurate diagnostic services to clients (Chaffee, 1985, p.9).
Optimum health care centre apply comparative databases to incorporate procedures in maintain steady review with correlated institutions, standards and most excellent practices. Frequently implementing innovative measures will help the institute to provide the best care to their clients. It is important for the lab to carry on to benchmark with local hospitals and facilities within a neighborhood to be able to maintain being among the preeminent medical amenities.
Data base maintenance will add value to the laboratory service provision. Administration can track down any information, which needs to be acted up on. Service to the client is made much easier due to simpler access of client diagnosis information. In addition, it is simpler to retrieve client data on demand. Incase of legal issue it is easily settled since the client file is easily accessible. Data base maintenance enables perfection of the lab services.
The lab technicians should wok on maintaining the diagnosis accuracy. In addition, lab should maintain period on its investigations on particular disease to avoid delays, which could contribute to congestion in the m medical facilities. Fast release of medical diagnosis results enables faster medical attention thus preventing complications. Database enables the flow of services in the laboratory (Thareja, 2008, p.10).
Educating entire staff of optimum health care centre is recommended. Every staff should attend all activities on quality development plan, which should be held yearly. All the employees should be educated and oriented on this program and be updated on any changes concerning the program. Educating the staff help to increase standard s of services in the lab. Education the staff on the new technology will assist them in handling lab activities more easily and efficient manner.
Value on service offered to customer is updated, education enable the worker to provide better diagnostic service to patients. Education can be done to the patient in terms of healthy education to assist or inform them on best way of receiving lab diagnostic procedure and the best way. Patients can be informed on meaning of their results and the best action they could take. Time is important factor in education, staff should be upgraded on the latest lab technology as to be able to provide the up to date services to clients. Flow of education to create better understanding of the information of services required.
This lab services must be assessed each year to authenticate its efficiency of the program towards achieving its objective of providing quality health care to the patients. A summarize of all activities and changes which have taken place through out the program. To achieve quality improvement the required changes should be evaluated every year to confirm if every aspect is on the meeting the required objective. Perfection is important in ensuring accuracy in the implementation of the required change. Good change plan should work perfectively within given period.
Communication development is an important aspect of quality development. The way information flow from the administration to the staff members is matters. Information passage should be efficient and reliable. Also for lab to offer goo diagnostic services, the order from physician on carrying out particular lab investigations should be understood. Results of lab investigations should be explained to the customer.
Improvement in the structure of management is important in ensuring quality improvement in service provision by lab. Good management structure enables better coordination and facilitation of activities. Division of labor will boost the performance since each on of the staff has his/her duties to perform ensuring better functioning of the laboratory. Time is well managed in lab where their well-defined roles of each member to perform. Perfection of activities to satui9sfactiohn of customer is evident since there close supervision and monitoring by the in charge. Value is attained due collective efforts from all members of staff.
In the module, a number of arguments are listed indicating why total quality management and continuous quality improvement is not appropriate in the workplace. Arguments against total quality management include:
Its valid argument that total quality management and continuous quality improvement emphasizes its effort to clients to concentrate on its internal dev elopement ignoring other important factors, which are crucial in the improvement of quality. It fails to focus more on customers demands. institution are likely to lose their customers if they fail on minimum standards requirement in their service provision in conjunction to reviewing the laid down goals to meet the objective Total quality management and continuous quality improvement call for frequent meetings which at some time are tiresome and time consuming.
Its is valid argument that Total quality management and continuous quality improvement gives quality jobs to qualified personnel.itb call for a well defined management structure where the leader are elected on merit and according to qualification. It delegates quality to qualified managers whereas it should be the responsibility of the real people. The people running it may end up becoming a self-serving entity divorced from the reality of what the organization is about. It is valid argument that total quality management and continuous quality improvement requires radical organizational reform which will enable in the running of the organization
Conclusion
Perfection as lean thinking boost on attaining the required objective. Setting of mission by the laboratory administration will enable it to attain their objective easily.
Change is required in quality improvement of the lab services. This will assure patient of getting standard services required. Perfection is easily attained when the staff put into consideration the quality of services they offer to patients.
Improvement in the structure of management is important in ensuring quality improvement in service provision by lab. Good management structure enables better coordination and facilitation of activities. Division of labor will boost the performance since each on of the staff has his/her duties to perform ensuring better functioning of the laboratory. Time is well managed in lab where their well-defined roles of each member to perform (Selden, 1998, p.60).
Diagnostic laboratory should do its work accurately for it to achieve the required continuous quality improvement. Laboratory technicians should be committed to investigating on diseases and releasing out the accurate results for the doctors to make right diagnosis. Lean thinking focus on numerous constant reviews on a patient by the laboratory staff for them to get the right results. Right diagnoses make it simpler for physicians to come up with right clinical diagnosis.
Patient review gives a room for correcting errors. Patient continued investigational review should be done to come up with right diagnosis. Laboratory technicians should provide a laboratory-enabling environment, which gives room for laboratory investigation. The laboratory should be safe for the workers. Administration should take measures to ensure that health hazards are contained and no infections are transmitted to the lab workers while carrying out the lab investigation or any other individuals.
List of References
Bounds, Adams, M. & Ranney, G. (1994) Beyond total quality management: towards the new paradigm, New York, McGraw-Hill.
Boyden, L. (1984) Competitive strategic management, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice-Hall.
Cross, K. (1981) Why adults participate and why not In: Adults as learners. San Francisco, Jossey Bass Publishers.
Asadoorian, J. (2001) Quality assurance programs for self-regulated dental hygienists in Canada: A comparative analysis. Probe, vol.35, no.6, pp. 225-32.
Tichy, N. (1993) Managing strategic change: Technical, political, and cultural dynamics, New York, John Wiley.
Kenneth, R. (2005) Project quality management: why, what and how. Fort Lauderdale, Florida, J. Ross Publishing.
Barney, J. (1991) Firm resources and sustainable competitive advantage, Journal of Management, vol. 17, no. 1, pp.1-20.
Chaffee, E. (1985) Three models of strategy, Academy of Management Review, vol.10, no. 1, pp.1-10.
Thareja, P. (2008) Total quality organization thru people, each one is capable, Foundry, vol. 20, no. 4, pp.1-15.
Selden, P. (1998) Sales process engineering: An emerging quality application, American Quality Progress Journal vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 59-63.
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