ABSTRACT
Quality improvements (QI) have been implemented in manufacturing and other industries to decrease the defects and errors. In healthcare, they can be very useful in identifying the errors, ineffectiveness, and inefficiencies in routine practices, and can also be used to address them. There are many tools and strategies to improve the quality and patient safety. The chapter highlights few of the most important ones. Root cause analysis is an analysis tool that can be used in healthcare for methodical investigation and comprehensive review of an event, enabling appropriate identification of opportunities for improvement. Plan–do–study–act is an iterative, four-stage problem-solving model used for improving a process or carrying out change. Fishbone diagram is a graphic tool used to explore and display the possible causes of a certain effect. Lean Six Sigma focuses on eliminating defects. In healthcare, it reduces the defects that can result in medical errors.
