A Paradigm Shift in Air Force Medicine

Abstract

Air Force medicine has been utilizing a quality assurance (QA) program for little less than a decade. The momentous success of total quality management (TQM) in the industrial business is starting to spill over into the American medical business in the form of continuous quality improvement (CQI). A QA program is a mandated, externally driven reactive program which focuses on the provider and who did it. CQI in contrast is proactive, internally driven, fosters participation and focuses on process improvement and what is wrong. QA programs are set up to identify those individuals who deviate far from the norm. CQI focuses on the norm and continuously improves the norm. My thesis is that Air Force medicine must transition from QA to CQI.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
May 01, 1992
Accession Number
ADA258334

Entities

People

  • Edward A. Miller

Organizations

  • Air War College

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Air Force
  • Catheterization
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Hospitals
  • Medical Personnel
  • North America
  • Personnel Management
  • Physicians
  • Therapy
  • United States
  • War Colleges

Readers

  • Environmental Remediation and Restoration.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.
  • Organizational Process Management (OPM).