The public health industry has recognized the value of continuous improvement. Quality Improvement (QI) teams are engaged across the country in identifying root causes of the issues which prevent us from providing the best public health services to communities and individuals. The tools of quality, when used effectively, will truly make a difference in the public’s health. It is time to take a more advanced approach for cross functional and long-term improvements that will achieve the systems level results the public deserves.
The purpose of this book is to introduce the concepts embedded in Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Lean Six Sigma to help Public Health professionals in their implementation of quality improvement within their agencies. The tools and techniques of QFD and Lean Six Sigma can help problem solving teams by providing insight into customer needs and wants, the design and development of customer centric processes, and mapping value streams. Both QFD and Lean Six Sigma focus on doing the most with the resources we have.
The methods in this text are the next step to harness the energy, enthusiasm, hard work, and dedication of our public health workforce to make a lasting difference. By effectively expanding the use of QI tools and techniques, we can, and will, improve our nation’s health and the health of the many communities we serve.
Про автора
Grace L. Duffy, MBA, CLSSMBB, provides services in organizational and process improvement, leadership, quality, customer service, and teamwork. She designs and implements effective systems for business and management success. Her clients include government, healthcare, public health, education, manufacturing, services, and not-for-profi t organizations. She is coauthor of The Quality Improvement Handbook, The Executive Guide to Improvement and Change, Executive Focus: Your Life and Career, and The Public Health Quality Improvement Handbook.
Grace holds a master’s degree in business administration from Georgia State University and a bachelor’s degree in archaeology and anthropology from Brigham Young University. She is an ASQ certified manager of quality/organizational excellence, certified quality improvement associate, and certified quality auditor. Grace is a certified Lean-Six Sigma Master Black Belt and manager of process improvement. She is an ASQ fellow and past vice president of ASQ.
During her 20 years with IBM, Grace held a series of positions in technical design, services, management, and process improvement. She helped design and deliver IBM’s executive quality training in the late 1980s. Grace retired from IBM in 1993 as head of corporate technical education. Grace served with Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina, for 10 years as department head for business, curriculum owner, and instructor for Trident’s Quality and Corporate Management programs and as a dean for management and performance consulting to private industry. Grace is a member of ASTD, ISPI, and ASQ. Grace can be reached at [email protected].