High Reliability and Continuous Process Improvement in the U.S. Air Force Medical Service

Abstract

Direct connections and effective communication between operational staff and leaders are crucial to highly reliable healthcare organizations. This requires linking those served, those that directly serve (frontline staff) and leaders at all levels through a deliberate process to identify challenges and solve problems together. In the present case report, we present an overview of the U.S. Air Force Medical Service (AFMS) Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) Management System and discuss its contribution to high reliability within the Air Force. A descriptive synthesis was conducted on relevant studies and guidance documents. The results focus on three principle elements of the CPI Management System: leader standard work, visual controls, and daily accountability. Finally, we discuss the strengths and limitations, as well as the future of the AFMS CPI Management System. We conclude that the CPI Management System is a vital component to achieving high reliability, or Trusted Care, in the AFMS.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2019
Accession Number
AD1091024

Entities

People

  • Beth Y. Kohsin
  • Helen Phipps
  • Jaime E. Nicholas
  • John R. Andrus
  • Paul J. Schroeder

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Air Force
  • Cognition
  • Delivery Of Health Care
  • Department Of Defense
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • High Reliability
  • Hospitals
  • Information Exchange
  • Medical Personnel
  • Military Medicine
  • Organizational Structure
  • Psychology
  • Reliability
  • Standards
  • Training

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Occupational Health and Safety.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).