Staff members in the physical therapy department gather information about the reasons why patient treatments do not start at the scheduled time. They want to group the reasons for late treatment starts into related categories to identify commonalities. What performance improvement tool could be used to sort the reasons into similar categories?

A hospital improvement team has brainstormed several potential solutions to the problem of high nursing staff turnover. What tool could the team use to select the solutions most likely to be successful?

What can cause data gathered through the use of patient satisfaction surveys to be unreliable?

An improvement team in the emergency department brainstorms all factors that have an effect on how long patients wait before being seen by a physician. What performance improvement tool would be useful for categorizing the factors identified through this brainstorming activity?

Staff in an ambulatory surgery center want to streamline the patient admission process. What performance improvement tool would they use to get a better understanding of how patients are currently admitted?

The hospital team charged with reducing the incidence of patient falls has selected four different patient care process changes that need to be implemented. What tool would the team use to document the tasks necessary for making these process changes?

An improvement team in a home health agency wants to streamline the process of discharging patients. The team identifies all the factors that will hinder the success of their improvement plans, as well as those factors that will increase the likelihood of success. The team is using what improvement tool?

What qualitative tool would be used by an improvement team to undercover the root cause of a performance problem?

What is an example of a quantitative improvement tool?

A team in the hospital registration department is conducting a Lean project to reduce wasteful steps in the process of preregistering elective admissions. What qualitative improvement tool could the team use to better understand the movement of preadmission paperwork throughout the department?

To improve productivity in the hospital operating room, the manager wants to start scheduling elective surgeries on Saturday. What tool can the manager use to identify strategies for gaining support from individuals who may resist this change?

The hospital respiratory therapy department is conducting a Six Sigma project for the purpose of reducing the incidence of missed treatments. The department’s medical director asks staff members to identify process changes that will result in fewer missed treatments. What qualitative improvement tool could the director use during this brainstorming session to narrow down potential solutions to those most likely to be successful?

What is another name for a fishbone diagram?

What type of flowchart shows the process steps and the people involved in each step?

Eliminating wasteful inefficiencies in a process is the primary goal of which performance improvement model?

For a healthcare process to achieve Six Sigma, what level of quality is expected?

Which step follows the assessment phase in the quality management cycle?

Six Sigma projects commonly involve which of these steps?

What Lean technique makes it easier for staff to quickly recognize when an inventory item needs to be restocked?

What is a short-term Lean project?

What improvement model originated in the Toyota automobile production system?

During the Act phase of a PDSA project, if changes made to improve performance are found to be unsuccessful, what is the next step?

A health maintenance organization conducted a study on outpatient treatment of patients with asthma. The need for a new asthma management protocol was identified, and it was developed. Now the protocol is being piloted by physicians at two primary care clinics. This project is in which phase of the Plan-Do-Study-Act improvement cycle?

What is the first question asked during a FOCUS-PDCA project?

Achieving near-perfect quality is the primary goal of which performance improvement model?

What is a step common to all performance improvement models?

What improvement model involves small process changes and careful measurement of the effect of the changes?

What is a measure of the performance potential of a process?

Who was the originator of the Plan-Do-Check-Act model of performance improvement?

What is a visual representation of the flow of process steps?