Quality Control

First some disclaimers are in order. I am not an expert or even trained in quality control. Everything I know was learned informally, by trial and error and from others that had formal quality control training.

I would recommend (other than attending a college) starting with learning about the father of modern quality control Dr. W. Edwards Demings. Wikipedia gives Dr. W. Edwards Demings a good overview that is easily accessible and many additional source to learn more.

America Adopts Dr. Demings Teachings the Hard way!

The principles and teachings of Demings were successfully adopted in the US for WW II production, but were soon forgotten after the war. Demings teachings were subsequently embraced from 1947 forward in Japan with outstanding success.

“There, from 1950 onward he taught top management how to improve design (and thus service), product quality, testing and sales (the latter through global markets) through various methods, including the application of statistical methods such as analysis of variance (ANOVA) and hypothesis testing. Deming made a significant contribution to Japan becoming renowned for producing innovative high-quality products.”

Decades later American businesses ‘discovered’ the teachings of Demings as Japanese products became known for their high-quality and American products such as autos, motorcycles and cameras struggled in the market place. American businesses lacked the will to search for answers from their foreign competitors with an open mind. Biases, ego and other restrictive forces were a barrier to learning and changing.

American Health Care Lacks Basic Quality Control Today

Americans are rightly proud of the incredible technology, innovations and stunning accomplishments of American medicine. Organ transplants, new hip joints and laser surgery are routine today. But, when you scratch the surface of our health care system you find some shocking quality problems. These have been documented by massive and authoritative studies by the Rand Corporation and the Institute of Medicines.
Thousands of Americans needlessly die each year from under and over treatment. Many more thousands of patients suffer from being under prescribed or over prescribed treatments.

American medicine and health care is very reminiscent of American autos and motorcycles. While we perform outstanding feats, inventions and innovate new operations, treatments and devices in sparkling hospital towers – we lack basic quality control.

Doctors, hospitals and other health care providers are not measured by any uniform system. We the patients and consumers.