Industrial models of continuous quality improvement. Implications for emergency medicine

CQI or TQM programs were developed from industrial models dating back to the 1930s. The original philosophic underpinnings guiding CQI included SPC, in which rigorous statistical methods were used to study industrial flow processes. As originally adopted by the Japanese, CQI is credited, to a significant degree, with the emergence of the Japanese economy as a major world leader. Nonetheless, the original CQI concepts were developed and implemented by American researchers, including Deming and Juran. The application of industrial models of quality improvement to service businesses in general and the health care industry in particular have met with substantial success in a number of different settings. Far from representing a management fad, CQI represents a solid management philosophy with a strong statistical background that stands in sharp contrast to traditional management in this country. CQI recognizes that the majority of defects result from a failure of the processes through which the product or service is generated, as opposed to the workers themselves. To a significant degree, CQI empowers service providers (through the strong commitment of top management) to participate in improving the processes through which products and services are delivered. As efforts unfold to contain health care costs and maintain quality in the face of declining resources, CQI programs are likely to be essential to success. Nonetheless, adopting CQI requires a significant commitment on the part of top management to the training and retraining of health care providers and the recognition that traditional management philosophies and techniques have largely failed to produce the quantum leaps in quality that will be required in the coming years.