Includes bibliographical references and index.

A brief review of healthcare reform -- The growing concern over service -- Defining continuous quality improvement -- It all starts with listening -- Creating a service excellence culture -- Who are your customers? -- Defining key quality characteristics -- Listening three times -- Understanding the tools -- Combining VOC data with the VOP -- Measurement roadblocks -- The quality measurement roadmap -- Types of indicators -- Selecting a specific indicator --Developing operational definitions -- Developing data collection plans -- Case study: transcription turnaround time -- The indicator development form --Evolution of the strategic dashboard -- Focusing on the vial few -- The role of benchmarking -- A comment on the new business management strategies -- Data versus information -- Research for efficacy -- Research for effectiveness and efficiency -- The debate is silly -- Static versus dynamic approaches to data analysis -- Case study: the monday morning dilemma -- Understanding variation -- Common and special causes of variation -- The consequences of not understanding variation -- What is a run chart? -- What is a control chart? -- Deciding which control chart to use -- Variables charts -- Attributes charts -- Deciding if a special cause is present -- Making appropriate management decisions -- Case study #1: predicting a cardiovascular event -- Case study #2:sampling central line infections -- Case study #3: sampling medicare insurance audits -- Case study #4: tracking patient falls -- Case study #5: pressure ulcer prevention -- Case study #6: evaluating staffing effectiveness -- Case study #7: to flash or not to flash that is the question? -- Case study #8: clarifying the operational definition of readmission -- Case study #9: managing a breast cancer patients coumadin levels -- Case study #10: group b streptococcus in pregnant women -- Case study #11: emergency department fast track -- Case study #12: tracking patient complaints -- Case study #13: reducing ventilator associated pneumonia -- Case study #14: pain management for hip and knee replacement patients -- Understanding the dots -- Personal transformation -- Organizational transformation -- Societal transformation.