Nice work in bringing to mind the notions of “Lean”, “Six Sigma” and “Kaizen” methods of thinking to the evaluation of our healthcare learning communication processes to promote project success:
“I also need to be competent in informatics so that I will be able to recognize and use nursing data to improve performance and quality of care. Informatics skills will also enable me to develop flow charts that represent clinical processes and be able to analyze these charts to inform decisions.”
Your overall goals made me think of the Ishikawa (fishbone) process, whereby several categories of causes are analyzed whenever there is a problematic outcome; the vital issues to address typically involve the team members who are actively involved in the work flow, and who need constant communication and information-sharing to achieve project outcomes, as well as departmental and organizational goals.
As Suarez-Barraza and Rodriguez-Gonzalez (2019) point out, Ishikawa’s logical “fishbone” process can be utilized to determine if/how any of our organizational processes may actually be the “root cause” of errors in communication and productivity in healthcare. As the authors share, “Exploring this questioning can shed light on the first indications to ratify the arguments of Ishikawa and Deming, that the main problems of companies are found in their processes and perhaps, in a deep way, in some of these cornerstone root causes that have to do with the way organizations are managed” ((Suarez-Barraza and Rodriguez-Gonzalez, 2019, p. 302).
1- What do you think of this notion that the way organizations are managed informs if/how communications happen in an organization, as well as what specifically is communicated by leadership at any given time?
In addition, the authors discovered that there were at least seven typical patterns that show the first signs of cornerstone root causes in organizations. These typical, problematic patterns are listed in the table below (Suarez-Barraza and Rodriguez-Gonzalez, 2019):
Synthesis of Common Patterns
Common patterns (Level 2 causes)
Common patterns (Level 3 causes)
Synthesis
Lack of staff training
Errors caused by lack of technical training of staff in performing their duties
Poorly trained employees at the technical level
Lack of employee motivation
Unmotivated and frustrated employees
Unmotivated and frustrated employees
Problems in processes execution
Failures in sequence, flows, delivery times and process standards
Deficient processes or with flaws in their operation
Coordination problems between functional departments
Coordination and organization failures in the company
Failures in the design of the organizational structure
xxxxxx
Inefficient information flow
Inefficient information flow
Side and vertical communication problems
Poor communication channels
Failures in communication channels
Problems with final good
Quality Errors in Product Manufacturing
Products with quality problems
Ineffective leadership
xxxxxxx
Inefficient leadership of middle and top managers
Stressful work environment
xxxxxxx
High pressure and stressful work environment
Failure in resource management (materials, machinery/equipment, financial)
xxxxxxx
Inefficient resource management
Problems with service quality
Failures in the quality of the service provided
Problems with service quality
2- What do you think of these research findings related to everything you have learned at the doctoral level thus far?
Great food for thought!
Reference
Suárez-Barraza, & Rodríguez-González, F. G. (2019). Cornerstone root causes through the analysis of the Ishikawa diagram, is it possible to find them?: A first research approach. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 11(2), 302–316. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJQSS-12-2017-0113
