Incorporation of continuous quality improvement in a hospital dietary department's quality management program.

What techniques or steps are necessary to overcome obstacles and achieve the incorporation of continuous quality improvement (CQI) methods in existing quality management programs? Education of staff, identification of customers' expectations, and implementation of a plan to administer activities are critical to a positive outcome of CQI efforts. Our article outlines one approach to the transition from quality assurance to CQI using the FOCUS-PDCA technique. We use the example of improving the timeliness of late tray deliveries to demonstrate how to implement the conversion to CQI using the FOCUS-PDCA technique. The dietetics practitioners may apply the sequential steps described in the article to successfully incorporate the CQI concept in most hospital dietary departments' quality management activities.