Quality Management Systems

AIRS is looking for useful standards in the fields of health optimization and rehabilitation. Like all methodologies, quality management systems can be standardized. Although we are far from anticipating optimal results in this area, we have shortlisted several approaches to QMS in healthcare that we think should be prioritized in considering which one to implement in any given health-service environment. AIRS aspires to sharpening people’s views on the issue and provides help by assessing, comparing and implementing the right QMS mix for health providers.

Quality Management (QM) Based on Routine Data

Various health-insurance projects have studied the opportunities offered by QM by analyzing and evaluating routine data. Modern healthcare facilities incorporate IT systems that administer daily data loads for routine processes. Running statistics on variations of this data gives insight into the quality of the underlying processes. This applies especially in cases where clinical pathways provide the backbone of the medical workflow.

Example: a quality manager may be alarmed by statistics concerning the number of daily releases of a certain antibiotic by the hospital pharmacy. The underlying reason may be that, in certain departments/wards, a multi-resistant germ may have led to clinical situations where use of the antibiotic is mandatory. The hospital has suffered an outbreak, and other wards have to be warned so they can react with appropriate hygiene programs.

Hospital Information Management System (HIMS) Design

Large, modern healthcare facilities prepare for big data management by designing appropriate IT architectures. The architectures themselves, as well as the design of the clinical pathways, should implement any quality-management parameters that have been brought to the attention of the users. A single missing step in the process should make the system react appropriately and require a quality action to be taken.

This kind of work process control is not always appreciated by users, because it features strict inherent formalism and sometimes forces them to do things that medical professionals consider self-evident. Yet these steps contribute to patient safety and are important in the context of using routine data. The flexibility of a HIMS is always a problem and often cost-intensive. In a time where constant innovation and knowledge increases are normal features of medical life, a HIMS has to be flexible and adopt new standards in an easy and user-friendly, almost autonomous way.

Benchmarking Partner

This is the classic approach to assessing the quality outcomes of health-related activities. The preconditions are:

• Finding a comparable and willing partner
• Investing in trained manpower for optimal quality and time management

AIRS draws on an international network of experts and healthcare facilities. We can compare profiles and assess which benchmarking partners fit your needs. No partners are completely equal; the benefit lies in the differences they exhibit as they strive towards their goals. Partners can learn from each other with regard to speed, cost efficiency and outcomes on various levels

Learning Hospital

The Fifth Discipline is a classic approach to dynamizing complex corporations such as health providers and priming them for constant change and improvement.

A breakdown of the principles of The Fifth Discipline in cooperation with doctors is often a critical issue, because it can involve seeing patients as customers who ultimately determine what is good or bad with regard to the achieved quality. Many traditionally trained physicians view themselves as caregivers with absolute authority and knowledge. This burden of the past can be overcome if all employees participate in the daily learning process. Sensitizing health-active personnel to what constitutes knowledge and how it can be captured and assessed in terms of its impact on daily workflows is only the first step. Thanks to today´s mobile technologies, various solutions can be used to prepare a facility for constant learning. AIRS identifies, filters, selects and recommends concepts that belong to the Learning Corporation cosmos.

Problem-Oriented Training

Training is another classic QM approach. Expectations regarding classroom training are rising due to time constraints and employees being unavailable for work when undergoing off-site training, so new training concepts tend to involve smaller modules.

There is no doubt that medical training, both basic and advanced, takes a lot of time. But the implementation of new equipment, process re-engineering, implementation of new departments, familiarization with new standards etc. require smaller brain snacks delivered after routine meetings or during daily work briefings. AIRS shows clients how to create their own mini-training sessions and mini-e-learning modules for smartphone users.