Performance Measurement Tools for Total Quality Management in Application to Healthcare Environment: A Qualitative Systematic Review

Abstract

In the context of rapidly changing business environment, total quality management (TQM) has become a common approach for overall organisational management with the strong emphasis on continuously improving the quality of processes and its outcomes. Hospitals and other healthcare organisations across the globe have been progressively implementing TQM to reduce costs, improve efficiency and provide high quality patient care. Moreover, TQM has become an important part of healthcare organisations’ competitive strategy in quality for healthcare delivery. The aim of the research is to identify the most commonly used measurement tools for TQM in application to healthcare environment using comprehensive review of TQM literature. Guided data search and screening process are conducted using qualitative systematic review, and the results identified and interpreted using a quantitative content analysis method of the research. The search of literature was conducted using 4 academic online databases – EBSCO, SCOPUS, MEDLINE, and WEB of SCIENCE. A total of 234 articles were initially searched, full texts of 32 articles were assessed, and 6 articles that met the inclusion criteria were finally included in the research. As the result of systematic article review, the following information has been synthesised: Benchmarking and ISO Standards, Competitive Benchmarking, Management and Employee Self-Developed Questionnaire, Customer Satisfaction Survey, Quality Award Self-Assessment.