Quality Progress

Hi Raymond, Sorry for the late response. I imagine there may be some organizations who avoid looking bad but it would come out in their outcomes eventually (higher expenses, lower productivity, poor clinical care). Organizations I am aware of embrace improving patient safety and partner with Risk (hold daily safety huddles etc.). ISO 9001 could supplement The Joint Commission standards. Something that may be of interest - the Quality Management Division and Healthcare Division are working together to help hospitals embrace a QMS. Here is a link to the resources and more information: https://my.asq.org/communities/blogpost/view/28/4/1229.

It is refreshing to see a healthcare organization embracing ISO 9001:2015 although I would have thought that accreditation by Joint Commission (JCAHO).would have made it unnecessary or redundant. I have many acquaintances who work in healthcare and am regularly surprised by the stories I hear that seem to support an industry prioritizing dollars over quality care. Examples heard from more than one source are cases of supervisors or directors discarding variance reports to avoid "looking bad" and inviting scrutiny from their Risk Management departments. It is interesting to me that given the hoopla over the addition of "risk based thinking" to ISO 9001:2015, the word "risk" does not appear anywhere in the article.

Hi Raymond Sharkey‍ - welcome to myASQ & thanks for posting.  I'm going to tag a couple of people who might have insights on this Susan Peiffer‍ and James Bossert‍ 

certainly interesting 

Trish

Hi Raymond, accreditation looks at some different things besides what ISO looks at.  There are a number of other regulatory agencies that have requirements for many other things than a QMS.  Risk is one of them and healthcare organizations are required to address any risk issues that occur.  Unfortunately, unlike many other industries that have come to see third party audits as a validation of doing the right thing, healthcare seems to fear any audits.  It is a mindset that some of us working in healthcare are trying to change.  But it is an uphill road.   COVID-19 has made many of the traditional beliefs now being rethought.  I am optimistic that things will get better.  

Jim

Quite a few hospitals have chosen to use ISO 9001 instead of JCAHO.  DNV has a really good program for working with them.

Yes indeed! Thanks for mentioning that Duke Okes.