13 February 2024 (Tuesday) - Eighty Four Point Five Per Cent

I started this quality management course three weeks ago when I said “I’ve always considered “Quality Management” to be a load of blah-blah-blah that gets in the way of doing my job, and for years I’ve been wondering just what I’m missing. I must be missing something.

So far the course has been nothing but blah-blah-blah, and all it is doing is confirming my preconceptions.”

 

I finished the course today and got eighty four point five per cent. I’ve clearly learned something during this time, but it has to be said there was a *lot* of “blah-blah-blah”. It really could have done with a whole lot less general theoretical and a whole lot more specific practical examples.

 

But eighty four point five per cent is eighty four point five per cent, isn’t it? There’s something tangible I can stick in a CPD audit should the need arise.

The course I’ve just done made it quite clear that a CPD audit of the sort I’m talking about here in no way contributes to workplace quality. And that’s why I’m still cynical.

3 February 2024 (Saturday) - More Quality Management

Having identified a problem... is it really a problem? Was there an error that came to light? Has there been a complaint? Or is there something in the workplace that could be changed easily and that would be used to tick a quality management box?

Having identified a real (as opposed to imagined or made up for a paperwork exercise) problem, is this one that can be readily rectified? And exactly how can we be sure that what changes we make actually eliminate or reduce the percieved problem?

An example was given from a well-known manucaturer of office equipment who felt they were paying far too much in transport costs when getting stuff in from their suppliers. At the end of the process they cut a list of three thousand suppliers down to three hundred; thereby eliminating the transport and administration costs of dealing with two thousand seven hundred companies. 

Suddenly quality management is all making sense.

31 January 2024 (Wednesday) - Seen The Light !! (Possibly)

 

I did some more of my course this evening...

 

How exactly do we measure quality. What criteria do we pick? It was said that we need to choose the right measures in the right situation and use them in the right way. There needs to be a proven link between the measure chosen and the patient’s eventual outcome. And there has to be a link between a measured low performance and a low level of patient care.

And suddenly something has clicked…

 

I’m now getting into this course… I’m seeing why I’ve been utterly disillusioned with the entire concept of quality management. The important thing is to choose the right criteria as a measure of quality. For example what is the point of demanding that certain blood tests need to be completed (and results available) in a couple of hours when the results aren’t actually needed until the patient’s next appointment which is in two months’ time?

 

We fall at the first hurdle in the labs. Because it is easy to count what we do in a given period of time, there’s an obvious metric. But is it the right thing to measure in every situation? And should we churn out any old result regardless of the accuracy and precision…

 

I’m actually looking forward to the next lecture.

29 January 2024 (Monday) - Glad I DIdn't Pay For It...

I had a look at more of my Coursera course on Quality Management.

The lectures played for the best part of an hour; they said an awful lot without actually saying anything and I got ninety per cent in a multiple choice exam by choosing the answers that weren’t frankly ridiculous or laughable.

 

I've started on this course because I make no secret of my contempt for the subject, and I want to be proven wrong. I want to be shown that there is merit in Quality Management. One third of the way into the course and so far it seems to be little more than learning from your mistakes in a blame-free and open way, which is something we should all be doing anyway.

 

Clearly I'm still missing the point. Hopefully that point will become apparent in the next two thirds of the course.

26 January 2024 (Friday) - Enrolled on a Course

I’m always whinging about what a load of meaningless nonsense that I consider quality management to be… probably because I don’t know that much about it. So I’ve enrolled in a course about it. I might learn something.

I’ve passed the first week with a score of eighty per cent, but I achieved that by remembering certain figures that were given during the (frankly rather dull) video lectures.

 

I know it is early days for this course, but I enrolled because I’ve always considered “Quality Management” to be a load of blah-blah-blah that gets in the way of doing my job, and for years I’ve been wondering just what I’m missing. I must be missing something.

So far the course has been nothing but blah-blah-blah, and all it is doing is confirming my preconceptions.

So… engaging “reflective mode”. Why do I consider this Quality Management course to be a load of blah-blah-blah? Because there are loads of words and loads of talk and very little practical example of improvement.

Bearing in mind this was an introductory week, the course might perk up. I hope so.