Abstract
Therapeutic Area
This 256-page handbook aims to prepare healthcare administrators and practitioners for applying appropriate quality-related oversight of day-to-day activities. The book is a practical tool with specific examples that management staff can use to relate to their own departmental duties.
Audience
The primary audience for this handbook is healthcare management staff. Examples focus on hospital scenarios, but they can be helpful for other areas in health care as well.
Purpose
This handbook is coauthored by 3 experts in the quality management field, all of whom have been involved in developing an advanced quality management program within a large multi-hospital health system. From their extensive years of experience, they provide insight for the practical implementation of quality interventions such as developing accurate measures for evaluating the quality of care, utilizing data for process improvement, and methods for improving accountability. The authors stress the importance of addressing patient satisfaction despite encountering financial pressures.
Content
The book is divided into 10 different chapters, with topics ranging from the role of a manager in promoting quality management, to basic tools useful in quality management data analysis, to performance improvement methods. Each chapter ends with a section titled “Things to Think About,” which provides practical questions and issues that can be used on the job.
Usability
The book would be a good addition to healthcare management training courses and provides a solid and practical foundation for classroom learning. This is an excellent handbook describing basic quality management concepts and practical tools for healthcare management to apply on a daily basis. It would be valuable to have this book available as a source of quality management techniques for healthcare management, and the $48 cost does offer good value for the price.
Highlights
The strengths of this handbook include providing quality management concepts in basic and practical terms and correlating the concepts for use in a complex healthcare environment.
Reviewer's Summary
Overall, the book is very well organized and easy to read, and it does not require the reader to have an extensive background in quality management in order to be able to apply the concepts.