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Edge-TQM
Final Digest
The VHA-sponsored, on-line discussion group, EdgeTQM,
has identified 9 potential areas for exploring how complexity might
further advance quality improvement efforts in healthcare organizations.
These notes provide a comprehensive digest of the work of the discussion
group.
Purpose and Scope of the Group
The goal of the group is to identify key issues in
the overlaps and differences between the classic QI approach and the
complexity sciences. We will look at this in both a qualitative way
(e.g., the issue of clinical pathways versus a min specs approach) and
a quantitative way (e.g., SPC data analysis versus chaos math).
The group's work will involve: (1) listing the issues,
(2) developing initial conceptual position papers on these issues, or
compiling articles already written, and (3) stimulating real demonstrations
in healthcare organizations (e.g., using complexity math to analyze
large data sets, or replacing a clinical pathway with a min specs approach
and reflecting on what happens).
Participants
Many people contributed to the discussion. Among them
were…
- Gregg Bennett, President, HBSI, VHA's health care
information systems company
- Kathy Blanford, VHA East, nurse and QI specialist
- David Blumenthal MD, Mass General Hospital, Boston,
MA
- Jacqueline Byers, Executive at Orlando Regional
Healthcare System, Orlando, FL
- JB Collins Director, Continuous Improvement Support
Systems, Forsyth Memorial Hospital, Winston-Salem, NC
- Kevin Dooley PhD, Arizona State University, Professor
of Engineering and author of several papers on complexity and QI
- James Dwyer MD, VP Medical Affairs, Memorial Hospital,
Mt. Holly, NJ
- Reg Gilbreath MD, VP Medical Affairs, VHA Florida
- Al Herzog MD, VP Medical Affairs, Hartford Hospital,
Hartford, CT
- Jim Howard MD, Senior VP and Medical Director, Washington
Hospital Center
- Steve Larned MD, VP Medical Affairs, Maine Medical
Center, Portland, ME
- Jackie Leonard, VHA Complexity Management
- Mark Levine MD, Family Medicine Program Director,
Hamot Medical Center, Erie PA
- Marshall Levine MD, former head of occupational
safety, NASA
- Curt Lindberg, VHA Complexity management
- Tom Petzinger, writer and columnist for the Wall
Street Journal
- Paul Plsek, Quality management consultant
- Terri Potter, CEO, Meriter Hospital, Madison, WI
- Jim Roberts MD, Sr. VP, VHA National
- Liz Rykert, Consultant on on-line discussion technology
- Brent Shive, VHA Improvement Services
- Mark Smith MD, Chair, Emergency Medicine, Washington
Hospital Center,
Washington DC
- David Wennberg MD, Maine Medical Center
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