Raymond See-Kit Lo. / Thesis (M.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 260-279). / Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, MI : ProQuest Information and Learning Company, [200-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web. / Mode of access: World Wide Web.

by Tse Kai Fat, Tsui Ping Tim. / Thesis (M.B.A.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 55-56). / ABSTRACT --- p.ii / TABLE OF CONTENT --- p.vi / LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS --- p.viii / LIST OF TABLES --- p.ix / CHAPTER / Chapter I. --- INTRODUCTION / The Hong Kong Hospital Authority --- p.1 / What is Quality of Health Care Service? / Four Dimensional Approach --- p.3 / Quality -- Standard Medical Practice(A) --- p.4 / Quality -- Good Medical Outcome(B) --- p.5 / Quality -- Customer Satisfaction(C&D) --- p.6 / Quality and Cost Containment / Trade-off between Quality and Cost --- p.9 / Quality Management Reduces Healthcare Cost --- p.10 / Methodology --- p.11 / Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award(MBNQA) --- p.12 / Chapter II. --- CORPORATE QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN THE HOSPITAL AUTHORITY / Corporate and Hospital Missions --- p.14 / Strategic Quality Management --- p.15 / Continuous Quality Management --- p.17 / Specific Corporate Quality Improvement Programs --- p.20 / Core Value Success Scheme --- p.21 / Dilemma Faced by the Hospital Authority --- p.23 / Chapter III. --- QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN PRINCESS MARGARET HOSPITAL / Hospital Background --- p.24 / Organisational Structure --- p.24 / Quality Management System --- p.25 / Leadership --- p.26 / Information and Analysis --- p.27 / Strategic Planning --- p.29 / Human Resource Development and Management --- p.31 / Process Management --- p.32 / Organisation Performance Results --- p.34 / Patient Satisfaction --- p.35 / Chapter IV --- QUALITY MANAGEMENT IN SHATIN HOSPITAL / Hospital Background --- p.36 / Quality Management System --- p.36 / Leadership --- p.39 / Information and Analysis --- p.39 / Strategic Planning --- p.40 / Human Resource Development and Management --- p.40 / Process Management --- p.41 / Organisation Performance Results --- p.42 / Patient Satisfaction --- p.43 / Chapter V. --- CRITIQUE AND RECOMMENDATIONS / Princess Margaret Hospital versus Shatin Hospital --- p.44 / The Hong Kong Hospital Authority --- p.46 / Corporate Strategy --- p.46 / Measurement of Quality --- p.47 / Staff Motivation --- p.48 / Total Quality Management and Cost Containment --- p.49 / APPENDIX --- p.50 / BIBLIOGRAPHY --- p.55

Aim of the study. To evaluate possibilities to implement the program of health care quality assurance in health care institutions from the physicians’ point of view. 58.4 percent of respondents are aware with the program of health care quality assurance. 71.2 percent of those who are aware with the program believe in health care quality improvement when the program will be implemented. 41.5 percent of respondents maintain that program will be implemented under condition of proper financing while 20.8 percent assert that program will not be implemented. 65.4 percent of physicians evaluate quality of care in their institution as good and 33.7 percent as satisfactory. According the opinion of the respondents’ quality of care could be improved with teamwork and good qualification of the physicians, a half of respondents maintain that the main obstacle for better examination of the patients is insufficient financing. Almost one third of physicians state that information about safety of health care is insufficient. 44.6 percent of respondents are not satisfied with their work, and 85.1 percent affirm that quality of care is influenced with satisfaction with work, 93.1 percent maintain that quality of care is influenced with workload, 43.6 percent relate their quality of work with payment. The major part of physicians assesses their knowledge about quality management as satisfactory and would like to improve in that area. 83.6 percent of physicians state that proper financing is... [to full text]

Föreliggande studie har behandlat kultur och systematiskt kvalitetsarbete inom socialtjänsten. Det huvudsakliga syftet var att genom tillämpning av kultur- och kraftfältsanalys studera hur väl förberedd en enhet inom socialtjänsten är att följa intentionerna för systematiskt kvalitetsarbete inom socialtjänsten. Studien genomfördes utifrån PDSA-cykeln som en variant av aktionsforskning och baserades på en fallstudie inom Individ- och familjeomsorgen i Hammarö kommun. Resultatet analyserades utifrån en kraftfältsanalys där med- och motkrafter identifierades. Av resultatet framkom att det sammantaget fanns en positiv inställningen till systematiskt kvalitetsarbete, men att kulturen inte tydde på detsamma. Sammanfattningsvis kan sägas att enheten har dåliga förutsättningar att följa intentionerna för systematiskt kvalitetsarbete. Om de skall införlivas måste enhetens positiva inställning kvarstå, ledningen vara aktivt närvarande, medarbetare göras delaktiga och kulturen förändras. Värdet i studien ligger i att det i Sverige idag finns ett pågående arbete med att implementera eller revidera ledningssystem för systematiskt kvalitetsarbete inom socialtjänsten. Kulturens betydelse av effektivitet och framgångsrikt kvalitetsarbete kan inte nog belysas. Studien kan ge inspiration till ledare och organisationer, främst inom socialtjänsten, att förena systematiskt kvalitetsarbete och arbetet med kultur.  Fortsatt forskning bör ha fokus på ledarskapets betydelse avseende organisationskultur, men det saknas även forskning som visar hur förbättringskultur skapas som stäcker sig över organisations- och professionsgränserna. / The present study has examined the cultural and systematic quality work in social services. The main purpose was that through the application of cultural and force field analysis study how well prepared a unit in social services is to follow the intentions of systematic quality work in social services. The study was conducted based on the PDSA cycle as a variant of action research and was based on a case study in the Individual and family services in Hammaro municipality. The results were analyzed on the basis of a force field analysis, where with and counterweights were identified. My results show that overall there was a positive attitude towards systematic quality work, but that the culture did not suggest the same. In summary, the unit has poor conditions follow the intentions of systematic quality work. If they must be incorporated into the device's positive attitude persist, lead an active presence, employees involved and the culture is changing. The value of the study lies in the fact that in Sweden today there is an ongoing effort to implement or revise management system for systematic quality work in social services. The importance of culture of efficiency and successful quality work can not be elucidated. The study may provide inspiration for leaders and organizations, primarily in the social services, to reconcile systematic quality work and work culture. Further research should focus on the importance of leadership organizational culture, but there is also a lack of research that shows how improvement culture is created that extends across organizational boundaries and profession.

Thesis (M.B.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 99-101).

The aim of this study was to provide an in-depth understanding of how a single private provider conducted an application for re-accreditation in line with the recently revised accreditation framework set out by the Council on Higher Education. This framework aims to promote an integrated approach to accreditation and increased autonomy for higher education institutions with regard to the reaccreditation of programmes. The research unpacked how accreditation was understood and applied within the context of the institution, placing emphasis on understanding the elements that promoted or inhibited quality as well as the tensions and contradictions that arose within this process. The driving question addressed by this research was: How does management within a South African private higher education institution engage with the re-accreditation process? Literature revealed that there is limited research on understanding quality assurance in private higher education in South Africa, and specifically on accreditation. Cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) was considered the most effective lens to interpret the findings of this study, as research indicates that it is for teasing out the historical and cultural contradictions within as well as between people, tools and the environment within complex educational systems. Multiple data-gathering techniques, including semi-structured in-depth interviews, participant observations and documentation reviews, were conducted. The findings of this study illuminate the critical role of management and their respective interpretations of quality in the shaping of the application for re-accreditation, that balanced quality development and accountability requirements. The study highlighted contradictions and issues that inhibited meaningful engagement with accreditation as well as the enhancement of programme and institutional quality.

With the development of service digitalization and the increased adoption of web services, modern large-scale software systems often need to support a large volume of concurrent transactions. Therefore, performance testing focused on evaluating the performance of systems under workload has gained greater attention in current software development. Although there are many performance testing tools available for providing assistance in load generation, there is a lack of a systematic evaluation process to provide guidance and parameters for tool selection for a specific domain. Focusing on business operations as the specific domain and the Nasdaq Central Securities Depository (NCSD) system as an example of large-scale software systems, this thesis explores opportunities and challenges of existing open- source performance testing tools as measured by usability and feasibility metrics. The thesis presents an approach to evaluate performance testing tools concerning requirements from the business domain and the system under test. This approach consists of a user study conducted with four quality assurance experts discussing general performance metrics and specific analytical needs. The outcome of the user study provided the assessment metrics for a comparative experimental evaluation of three open-source performance testing tools (JMeter, Locust, and Gatling) with a realistic test scenario. These three tools were evaluated in terms of their affordance and limitations in presenting analytical details of performance metrics, efficiency of load generation, and ability to implement realistic load models. The research shows that the user study with potential tool users provided a clear direction when evaluating the usability of the three tools. Additionally, the realistic test case was sufficient to reveal each tool’s capability to achieve the same scale of performance as the Nasdaq’s in-house testing tool OMEXUS and provide additional value with realistic simulation of user population and user behavior during performance testing with regard to the specified requirements. / Med utvecklingen av tjänste-digitalisering och ökad användning av webbtjänster behöver moderna storskaliga mjukvarusystem ofta stödja en stor mängd samtidiga transaktioner. Prestandatestning med fokus på att utvärdera prestanda för system under arbetsbelastning har därför fått större uppmärksamhet i den aktuella programvaru utvecklingen. Även om det finns många verktyg för prestandatestning tillgängliga för att ge hjälp i belastnings generering, saknas det en systematisk utvärderingsprocess för att ge vägledning och parametrar för verktygsval för en viss domän. Med fokus på affärsverksamhet som den specifika domänen och Nasdaq Central Securities Depository (NCSD) -systemet, som ett exempel på storskaliga mjukvarusystem, utforskar denna avhandling möjligheter och utmaningar med befintliga verktyg för prestandatestning med öppen källkod mätt med användbarhets- och genomförbarhet mått. Avhandlingen presenterar ett tillvägagångssätt för att utvärdera prestandatestverktyg avseende krav från företagsdomänen och det system som testas. Detta tillvägagångssätt består av en användarstudie utförd med fyra kvalitetssäkringsexperter som diskuterar allmänna prestandamått och specifika analytiska behov. Resultatet av användarstudien gav bedömningsmåtten för en jämförande experimentell utvärdering av tre verktyg för prestandatestning med öppen källkod (JMeter, Locust och Gatling) med ett realistiskt testscenario. Dessa tre verktyg utvärderades i termer av deras överkomlighet och begränsningar när det gäller att presentera analytiska detaljer om prestandamått, effektiviteten i lastgenereringen och förmågan att implementera realistiska belastningsmodeller. Forskningen visar att användarstudien med potentiella verktygsanvändare gav en tydlig riktning vid utvärdering av användbarheten av de tre verktygen. Dessutom var det realistiska testfallet tillräckligt för att avslöja varje verktygs förmåga att uppnå samma skala av prestanda som Nasdaqs interna testverktyg OMEXUS och ge ytterligare värde med realistisk simulering av användarpopulation och användarbeteende under prestandatestning med avseende på de angivna kraven.

Master of Science / Clinical Sciences / Daniel U. Thomson / Consumer interest in production agriculture has prompted the beef industry to develop tools to increase accountability of producers for animal management practices. The Beef Quality Assurance Feedyard Assessment, developed by veterinarians, animal scientists, and production specialists, was used to objectively evaluate key areas of beef cattle production such as animal handling, antimicrobial residue avoidance, and cattle comfort in 56 Kansas feedyards. During the assessment, management protocols were reviewed, facilities and pens were inspected, and cattle handling practices were observed. Of the 56 feedyards, 19 maintained complete and current Best Management Practices documentation for all management protocols required by the assessment. During assessment of cattle handling practices, 78.6% of feedyards met requirements for an Acceptable score for all measured criteria. An electric prod was used on only 4.0% of cattle during processing. In addition, 83.0% of feedyards scored Acceptable for stocking rate, feed bunk, water tank, and mud score standards.

The study has defined the position with regard to existing and evolving United Kingdom (UK) and European Union (EU) legislation, world trade agreements and institutions, global trade in chicken meat and market Quality Assurance (QA) standards in a series of peer-reviewed published papers and working papers. The development of global food supply chains can be a key driver in the harmonisation of international legislation, product and private assurance standards. Indeed compliance with legislation and retailer requirements has been a key market driver in the development of private assurance standards. The key objectives of the research were to examine current assurance schemes within the integrated poultry meat supply chain and the influence of regulation and external market drivers within the integrated poultry meat supply chain; develop and test a QA model for the poultry meat supply chain with a view to both baseline and higher level standards including the development of a business benchmarking system utilising a pre-requisite programme (PRP) and key performance indicators (KPI); and to assess the ability of the QA model to deliver regulatory and policy compliance whilst meeting varied business and market needs for an internationally traded product. This study has shown that a QA model is capable of providing a framework within which the poultry meat supply chain can operate. The legislative and performance requirements have been translated into quantifiable performance indicators which can be used to measure supply chain performance. This can assist differentiation of products at the point of consumption and give a quantifiable measure of the extrinsic value that has been added. This approach will therefore aid the communication of the benefits of differing methods of poultry meat production and afford the consumer the opportunity to make a more informed choice when purchasing meat products.

Thesis (MSc)--Stellenbosch University, 2005. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Introduction: Quality assurance in Nuclear Medicine is of utmost importance in order to ensure optimal scintigraphic results and correct patient management. A customised Quality Management System (QMS) should be documented and implemented by following the international guidelines set by the International Standardisation Organization (ISO). Materials & Methods: A Quality Control Manual (QCM), defining the departmental quality policy, mission, vision and objectives was customised following the framework of a tried and tested design. As ISO focuses on client satisfaction and staff harmony, the following departmental objectives were audited in working towards the accreditation of the Nuclear Medicine Department of Tygerberg Hospital: referring physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction as well as staff satisfaction and harmony. Information was collected by means of questionnaires completed by referring physicians and staff members. One-on-one interviews were executed on patients. An international ISO accredited Nuclear Medicine department was visited to establish the suggested path to follow en route to successful ISO accreditation and certification. Results: Referring physicians indicated overall satisfaction with service provision, but a need for electronic report and image transfers seemed too dominant. The patient satisfaction survey resulted into overall satisfaction with personal service providing, but the provision of written and understandable information, long waiting times and t equipment must receive attention. Staff questionnaires indicated a general lack of communication between different professional groups and the need for interpersonal loyalty and team building. Improvement measures were identified to ensure the continuous improvement of the QMS by focusing on these quality parameters. Conclusion: The department has QA procedures in place, but does not meet all criteria for external accreditation. In order to ensure departmental harmony and sustainability of client and staff satisfaction, the departmental objectives in measured and improved where needed. The successful implementation and continuous improvement of a customised QMS, following the guidelines outlined in the QCM will lead to successful accreditation. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Inleiding: Die belangrikheid van kwaliteit versekering in Kerngeneeskunde vir die versekering van optimale flikkergrafiese resultate en korrekte pasient handtering kan nie onderskat word me. 'n Klantgerigte Kwaliteitsbeheersisteem (KBS) moet gedokumenteer en geimplimenteer word vir die Kerngeneeskunde Departement deur die riglyne te volg soos uiteengesit deur die Internationale Standardiserings Organisasie (ISO). Materiale & Metodes: 'n Kwaliteitskontrol handleiding (KB), wat die departementele kwaliteitsbeleid, die missie en visie asook die departementele doelwitte definieer is ontwerp en saamgestel vir die Kerngeneeskunde departement van Tygerberg Hospitaal. Hierdie ontwerp is gebaseer op die raamwerk van 'n aanvaarde kwalteitsbeheersisteem. ISO fokus op klante tevredenheid asook personeel harmonie en tevredenheid. Vir hierdie rede is daar 'n tevredenheidpeiling uitgevoer op die klante en personeel in die strewe na ISO akkreditasie en sertifikasie. Inligting was versamel deur vraelyste wat ingevul was deur die verwysende geneeshere, pasiente en personeel. Resultate: 'n Kwaliteitskontrole handleiding was saamgestel VIr gebruik in die Kerngeneeskunde department. Die interne audit resultate het aangedui dat die verwysende geneeshere tevrede is met die algehele dienslewering. Die behoefde aan elektronies versende verlae en beelde was dominerend. Die pasient tevredenheidspeiling het bevestig dat die pasiente tevrede is met persoonlike dienslewering, maar 'n tekort aan verstaanbare en geskrewe inligting was geidentifiseer. Die lang wagtye en stukkende apparaat is ook gebiede wat verbertering benodig. Algemene gebrek aan komminukasie tussen die verskillende beroepsgroepe, die behoefte aan interpersoonlike lojaliteit en span werk was die hoof bevindinge van die personeel tevredenheidspeiling. Verbeterings maatreels, gefokus op hierdie departementele doelwitte, was geidentifiseer ten eide te verseker dat die KBS voordurend verbeter en in stand gehou word. Samevatting: Alhoewel die departement wel KB prosedures in plek het, voldoen dit nie aan al die criteria vir eksterne akkreditasie nie. Ten einde departementele harmonie en kliente tevredenheid te verseker, met die oog op ISO sertifikasie, moet die departmenteIe doelwitte deurlopend gemeet en verbeter word.