Question

INSTRUCTION: Please review the information below and answer the main question. Also, note that the response to the main question was obtain from chegg.com. Expand on the responses below and be specific and used examples: The answers to the question are below but need to be expanded

Question:

What are three key messages in The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (Author), Jeff Cox (Author)? How do they apply to healthcare - be specific and use examples?

Q1) Below are the three key messages in the Goal -

1. Everything is done to achieve a single, underlying goal.

2. Measurements determine whether we are going in the right direction of the goal or not. They determine the accuracy and precision of the result by comparing it with goal objective.

3. Everything that brings us closer to the goal is productive and everything else is not productive.

Q2) Below is how the key messages can be applied to healthcare -

1. The single, underlying goal in healthcare is to improve the health condition of the patient.

2. The measurements that need to be considered to compare the actual results with goal objectives include quality of healthcare, accessibility, affordability, other operational metrics etc.

3. Providing quality care to patients helps in improving health condition of patients and lack of quality will result in moving away from improving health condition.

Answer 1

1. The three key messages from The Goal : A Process of Ongoing Improvement can be summed up as :-

• Bottlenecks(constraints) management is important for effective operations, productivity and revenue. Identifying the contraints helps in focussing resources on removing the constraints for better workflow.
• Consider the overall system in a plant or business and not individual parts separately for improving overall efficiency and performance. Foe maximum output and optimal use of resources it is important that complete system is contributing and working effectively.
• There is always scope for improvement in processes. The plant productivity, efficiency and profitability can be increased by always finding ways for improvement and focussing on necessary areas for change and intervention.

2. The key messages can be appled to healthcare in following ways :-

• The areas which need intervention for improvement of healthcare facilities should be identified. For overall effectiveness of healthcare, the areas of concern which require efforts and resources are necessary to be identified so that they can be focussed on to serve the patients better.
• Overall goal of improving health of populations is an important objective for providing quality healthcare. Healthcare services should focus on the preventive healthcare as well as minimizing health issues by improving the quality of healthcare, lesser readmissions, safe and post discharge care.
• Efforts should be directed towards improving patient's experience of care, reducing per person costs of healthcare, evaluating effectiveness by measurement of healthcare outcomes. Measuring the processe and outcomes of healthcare helps in monitoring performance, controlling variations and reducing the associated risks.