International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance: Volume 30 Issue 2

A method for evaluating treatment quality using in vivo EPID dosimetry and statistical process control in radiation therapy

Todsaporn Fuangrod, Peter B. Greer, John Simpson, Benjamin J. Zwan, Richard H. Middleton

Due to increasing complexity, modern radiotherapy techniques require comprehensive quality assurance (QA) programmes, that to date generally focus on the pre-treatment stage. The…

The effects of a lean transition on process times, patients and employees

Pascale Simons, Huub Backes, Jochen Bergs, Davy Emans, Madelon Johannesma, Maria Jacobs, Wim Marneffe, Dominique Vandijck

Treatment delays must be avoided, especially in oncology, to assure sustainable high-quality health care and increase the odds of survival. The purpose of this paper is to…

Understanding the working relationships between National Health Service clinicians and finance staff

Virginia Minogue, Rebecca McCaffry

The Department of Health and the National Health Service (NHS) Future Focused Finance (FFF) programme promotes effective engagement between clinical and finance staff. Surveys…

Barriers to discharge from inpatient rehabilitation: a teamwork approach

Lisanne Catherine Cruz, Jeffrey S. Fine, Subhadra Nori

In order to prevent adverse events during the discharge process, coordinating appropriate community resources, medication reconciliation, and patient education needs to be…

“When I am with my husband, I do not feel mosquito bite”: Insecticide-treated net usage among pregnant women, Accra, Ghana

Mary Anita Quist, Augustine Adomah-Afari

The purpose of this paper is to explore how socio-cultural beliefs and practices could influence the knowledge, attitude and perception of insecticide-treated net (ITN) use in the…

Performance assessment of human resource by integration of HSE and ergonomics and EFQM management system: A fuzzy-based approach

Mohsen Sadegh Amalnick, Mansour Zarrin

The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated framework for performance evaluation and analysis of human resource (HR) with respect to the factors of health, safety…

Use of failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) to improve medication management process

Khushboo Jain

Medication management is a complex process, at high risk of error with life threatening consequences. The focus should be on devising strategies to avoid errors and make the…

Markov chain decision model for urinary incontinence procedures

Sameer Kumar, Nidhi Ghildayal, Neha Ghildayal

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common chronic health condition, a problem specifically among elderly women that impacts quality of life negatively. However, UI is usually viewed…