The Official Journal of the
National Association for Healthcare Quality

Editorial: On the Little Things
Luc R. Pelletier

Improving the Efficiency of Hospital Porters, Part 1: Study Objectives and Results Fredrik Odegaard, Li Chen, Ryan Quee, Martin L. Puterman

Abstract: This article reports the results of a study of porter operations at Vancouver General Hospital. Part 1 describes the importance of efficient porter services, the system's operation, the challenges faced, the performance measures developed, the recommendations, and the outcomes.

Improving the Efficiency of Hospital Porter Services, Part 2: Schedule Optimization and Simulation Model Fredrik Odegaard, Li Chen, Ryan Quee, Martin L. Puterman

Abstract: Part 2 describes the simulation model that measured the impact of system changes and the linear programming model developed to improve porter schedules. 

Managing the Storm: An Emergency Department Capacity Gwendolyn Burley, Heather Bendyk, Catherine Whelchel

Abstract: A multidisciplinary team redesigned the processes for admitting patients from the emergency department to the inpatient unit. Significant reductions in the median minutes for a majority of the time intervals studied were achieved during the 6-month study period. 

Population Control Charts for Population Data John P. Hansen

Abstract: Healthcare managers are beginning to collect full population data, rather than sample data, on some patient and performance measures. Population control charts can be used for monitoring processes that have output measures with continuous, binomial, or nonbinomial rate variables. 

Interview with a Quality Leader: Thomas L. Garthwaite on Healthcare Quality in Large Enterprises
Danny van Leeuwen

Thomas L. Garthwaite is the executive vice president and chief medical officer at Catholic Health East (CHE), Newtown Square, PA, He has served as deputy undersecretary for health in the Department of Veterans Affairs and also as director and chief medical officer of the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.

What Is Quality? Do We Agree, and Does It Matter? 
Linda Burhans 

Abstract: Definitions of quality used in four selected healthcare disciplines are compared, and recommendations are offered for how healthcare quality professionals might address the differences among them in order to better support quality and patient safety programs.

Quality Toolbox: Self-Monitoring of a Stress Reduction Technique Using Wrist-Worn Counters
Jill E. Bormann, Tom L. Smith, Martha Shively, Mary Ellen Dellefield, Allen L. Gifford

Abstract: In a study of veterans and healthcare workers, the reliability of a self-monitoring method used to track the frequency of a spiritually oriented stress reduction technique was assessed. Tracking by wrist-worn counters was highly correlated with retrospective self-reports, indicating that such counters may be a reliable self-monitoring tool and could be used to measure a variety of other behavioral health quality indicators.

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