Hospital materiel management quarterly最新文献

The Internet is the fastest growing new information service, but it is still an unknown territory to many production and inventory control (PIC) managers. It should not be, and by reading this article they can get a rough idea what it is, how to use it, why it should be used, and where to start.

Quality is at the top of American consumers' demand list, and consequently American manufacturing companies have been forced to assign priority to the development of high-quality products. To improve the quality of what they offer, many manufacturers use the management philosophy known as total quality management (TQM), and now the service sector is following in their footsteps. The health care industry is a good example of a service industry that can benefit greatly from TQM, and it is the purpose of this article to show how a health care provider can implement TQM and evaluate its effects.

Change rarely comes easy. There are frequently obstacles of various shapes and sizes throughout the implementation process, and in order to ensure success a project manager must have the right tools and know how to use them. Just as craftspeople master the tools of their trade, so too must project managers--not only if they are to succeed but also if they are to survive. This article focuses on the "how to"--the skill set needed to be a successful project manager. It describes the project management process and reviews some basic but invaluable tools.

The new insurance policy that began in 1995 for all people in Taiwan and severe competition within the health care industry are some of the pressing issues forcing hospitals to improve their operational efficiency. A primary productivity improvement for hospitals is the reduction of the cost of material management because the materiel function on average controls 30-40 percent of the operating dollars in a Taiwan hospital. In this article, a fuzzy clustering method is used to classify the different types of materiel management systems within Taiwan hospitals. Inventory turnover rates and fill rates are compared among those different types of systems by using multivariate analysis of variance. The results show that the differences in both inventory turnover rates and fill rates are statistically significant among different material management systems.

A structured approach to problem solving and solution documentation is one of the keys to continuous improvement. Without it, it is quite possible to solve the wrong problem, to solve the right problem in the wrong way, or (maybe worst of all) to solve the same problem over and over again. Companies that have figured out how to solve the right problems in the right way, once and for all, will ultimately move forward much faster than their competitors.

The performance of an organization is paced by its use of resources, including its ability to acquire, access, and use knowledge. A high-performance organization, more than likely, has structured its resources around process linkages and is characterized by a horizontal organization chart, teams and teamwork, empowerment, and operational excellence. Organizational researchers hypothesize that performance improves with fuzzy internal boundaries, cross-functional participation, and goals anchored in the interests of customers and other external stakeholders. This article looks at the competitive need for more integration of resources and greater sharing of knowledge, the integrated nature of work within emerging types of organizations, how expanded views can improve the marketplace centering of processes and individuals, and how combining a model of integration and individual work challenges thinking and actions in the new environment.

Quality inconsistency, whether it exists in products, processes, communication, or services, should serve as a red flag signaling a need to make improvements. More consistency in the workplace can only come through the continual refining of performance. In order for "continual improvement" to become part of the company culture, each person in the organization needs to understand and apply a disciplined step-by-step approach to change. All effective, lasting change comes from the use of problem solving and an effective change process.

Companies wanting to implement a total cost-based supplier selection process often stumble over how to include nonmonetary issues such as delivery and quality performance, lead time, services, and social policies. This article describes a process that allows a company to include any issue it deems relevant and to determine its cost factor.

The task of defining computer system requirements often involves the consideration of an overwhelming number of complexly related factors. Therefore, before getting started, a project team assigned this task needs to get an overview and develop a clear understanding of the main objectives and the alternative methods it can use in carrying out its responsibilities. This article presents tips and techniques for achieving success in the requirements definition phase of a software selection process.

The focus of any health care provider, such as a hospital, is on assessing and improving the well-being of the people in the system's target area, and it is this focus that differentiates health care providers from other enterprises. The purpose of this article is to identify the essential factors in the delivery of quality services by hospitals. These factors include patients' active participation in their delivery, the nature of the clinical procedures, and the management of the interaction of all the customers involved in the process.