Integrating total quality management and quality assurance at the University of Michigan Medical Center

Staff members from the University of Michigan Medical Center (UMMC), 1990 winner of the Commitment to Quality Award, describe how they integrated its quality assurance (QA) program into its total quality management (TQM) strategy. The QA program has changed in recent years to establish quality as a central priority, to educate staff in the importance of quality, and to disseminate information more effectively. While these initiatives were underway, UMMC began to embrace TQM as an operating philosophy. Recognizing both the strengths and weaknesses of QA, staff members have worked to apply TQM principles (eg, focus on processes) to QA while using the ongoing monitoring of QA to identify opportunities for improvement within the organization's TQM management system.