1. Many examples of improvement projects conducted by healthcare organizations can be found on the Internet. Find an example of each type of project: PDSA, rapid cycle improvement, FOCUS-PDCA, FADE, Lean, and Six Sigma. What is similar about each project? What is different about each project?
2. Select the improvement model that would work best for the following performance problems. Explain your choices.
• More than 25 percent of the insurance claims submitted by a clinic are rejected because of mistakes made by the clinic’s billing clerks.
• Patients experience long wait times and delays for outpatient diagnostic services.
• A large number of hospitalized patients develop a wound infection following surgery.
• Labor costs are too high in the radiology department.
• Patients’ overall satisfaction with the emotional support provided by nurses is lower than the satisfaction levels reported for other hospitals.
• In a pediatric clinic, many Spanish-speaking patients are unable to communicate by phone with the receptionists and caregivers because of language barriers.
