Reference no: EM132380099

Quality Improvement Team Assignment (Case Study)

Refer to the Case Study #1: The Quality Improvement (QI) Team Kick-Off? in Chapter 7 of our text (pp. 154-155). Prepare a 1-2 pagebody double-spaced paper, utilizing critical thinking skills to address the four case study discussion questions at the end of the case study in your paper. Please separate the four question areas you are covering in your case analysis paper. You also need to demonstrate research with at least one scholarly resource from the library to support one idea in your case analysis paper.

Jeff looked at his watch again, sighed, and glanced around the room. It was already 5 minutes past the hour. His first quality improvement (QI) project at Suburban Hospital, and only 3 of the 15 people he had invited to the kick-off team meeting had appeared.

Disappointed, Jeff proceeded to talk through the slide presentation he had carefully prepared, which outlined the targeted problems and the structured quality improvement methods that would be used to tackle the concerns. The three people in attendance asked few questions and seemed eager for the meeting to end. After a short and awkward discussion, Jeff watched them hurry out of the room.

Back at his desk in the QI department, Jeff struggled to sort through the mixture of anger, embarrassment, and frustration that he was feeling about his effort to launch this QI team. As the quality director had suggested, Jeff had invited stakeholders from all the clinical and administrative areas involved in these issues to join this team. Using the hospital's email system, he had created and sent an electronic meeting invitation, and at least 10 of the 15 stakeholders recruited had accepted the invitation. Jeff had not wanted to make the e-vite message too long; the invitation had stated that each recipient had been named to a "new QI team." Yet, only three had bothered to show up! And even those who attended did not seem very interested or engaged in what Jeff had to say.

Prior to the meeting, Jeff had been anxious to implement all of the great ideas about self-managing teams and group facilitation that he had learned in his healthcare management courses at State University. Now, based on today's attendance, he found himself feeling desperate about how he would even get the project off the ground, never mind make it self-managing. As a quality analyst, Jeff realized that he had no formal authority over any of the people he had invited. How could his director expect him to get them actively involved?

Case Study Discussion Questions

What factors related to team formation do you think contributed to the poor attendance at Jeff's kick-off meeting?

Based on what you've learned, what advice would you give Jeff about how to manage the formation of a new team?

Assuming the team does get started, are there any steps Jeff can take to keep members engaged and involved in its efforts?

What do you think Jeff should do next in his effort to get this team underway?

(Courtesy of Victoria Parker, Program Director Department of Health Policy and Management Boston University School of Public Health)