TQM and Health Care: An Evolution in the Way That Work Is Done Available to Purchase

Uses the example of a craftworker to illustrate high quality production and to emphasize the essential elements in such a process of being customer‐focused, having customized products, work conducted as an integrated whole, personalized by the individual and with the application of continuous improvement. Draws on and discusses the work of Juran and others in consideration of the transition from the skilled craftsperson to mass production and the effect on quality. Parallels factory work and the delivery of health care and concludes that poorly designed processes doom many health‐care workers to perpetual frustration. Equates health‐care workers – physicians, nurses and technicians – with craftworkers who wish to provide a quality service containing all those elements listed above.