Improvement Insights Blog
Where are the Quality Tools at ASQ WCQI?
Having reviewed the quality tool usage in posters at ASQ WCQI, I have to ask: Where are the Quality Tools?
“Hi, this is Jay Arthur, author of “Lean Six Sigma for Hospitals” and the QI Macros [software].
“I was at the ASQ World conference and I looked at the team posters – you know, the improvement posters that were located in the exhibit hall. Surprisingly, out of all of all these little posters that were out there were there only two control charts, there were about five fishbone [diagrams], maybe one Pareto chart, but most the rest of it was line and bar charts.
“I have to ask you: if we’re the American Society for Quality… why aren’t we using the tools of Quality?
“When I go to the healthcare conferences, you know, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, the National Association for Healthcare Improvement or the Magnet conference, Quality tools are in rare supply. The vast majority are line and bar charts, and occasionally you see a control chart, Pareto chart, a fishbone, a histogram, but not often.
“I want you to consider that we talk about using the tools of Quality but we’re not doing it. So I’m going to ask you: Start using the tools of Quality, start putting together improvement projects that will slay dragons and take those out and present them at conferences so people can have an example of what that might look like, right? Because we’re not seeing it, and so I’m going to tell you, almost everybody is “admiring the problem” or they’re not reporting it; one of those two things: Admiring the problem or not reporting it.
“That’s my Improvement Insight for this week. Let’s go out and improve something.”
