Systematic Review of the Application of Quality Improvement Methodologies from the Manufacturing Industry to Surgical Healthcare

Item

Title

Systematic Review of the Application of Quality Improvement Methodologies from the Manufacturing Industry to Surgical Healthcare

Abstract/Description

Background
The demand for the highest-quality patient care coupled with pressure on funding has led to the increasing use of quality improvement (QI) methodologies from the manufacturing industry. The aim of this systematic review was to identify and evaluate the application and effectiveness of these QI methodologies to the field of surgery.

Methods
MEDLINE, the Cochrane Database, Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, British Nursing Index, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Health Business™ Elite, the Health Management Information Consortium and PsycINFO® were searched according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement. Empirical studies were included that implemented a described QI methodology to surgical care and analysed a named outcome statistically.

Results
Some 34 of 1595 articles identified met the inclusion criteria after consensus from two independent investigators. Nine studies described continuous quality improvement (CQI), five Six Sigma, five total quality management (TQM), five plan-do-study-act (PDSA) or plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycles, five statistical process control (SPC) or statistical quality control (SQC), four Lean and one Lean Six Sigma; 20 of the studies were undertaken in the USA. The most common aims were to reduce complications or improve outcomes (11), to reduce infection (7), and to reduce theatre delays (7). There was one randomized controlled trial.

Conclusion
QI methodologies from industry can have significant effects on improving surgical care, from reducing infection rates to increasing operating room efficiency. The evidence is generally of suboptimal quality, and rigorous randomized multicentre studies are needed to bring evidence-based management into the same league as evidence-based medicine.

Author/creator

Nicolay, C R

Purkayastha, S

Greenhalgh, A

Benn, J

Chaturvedi, S

Phillips, N

Darzi, A

Date

2012

In publication

British Journal of Surgery

Volume

99

Issue

3

Pages

324-335

Resource type

en Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

en Published Text

Scholarship genre

en Empirical

Open access/full-text available

en Yes

Peer reviewed

en Yes

ISSN

0007-1323

DOI

10.1002/bjs.7803

URL

Official Publisher's Webpage (Oxford Academic)

Full-text PDF Shared by Author (ResearchGate)

Citation

Nicolay, C. R., Purkayastha, S., Greenhalgh, A., Benn, J., Chaturvedi, S., Phillips, N., & Darzi, A. (2012). Systematic Review of the Application of Quality Improvement Methodologies from the Manufacturing Industry to Surgical Healthcare. British Journal of Surgery, 99(3), 324–335. https://doi.org/10.1002/bjs.7803

Cited in

Cross-Sector Research on Continuous Learning and Improvement

Abbreviation

British Journal of Surgery

Item sets

OB Citations - Cross-Sector Research on Learning and Improvement

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