Defining the “dialysis technician” The term “dialysis” or “renal technician” is generally used for people entrusted with technically oriented tasks in a dialysis unit. Unlike other professions in the renal care team (nurses and physicians in particular) the term per se does not describe the exact scope of duties and responsibilities or educational background and professional standing of the tec...

The purpose of the paper is to presents some results of the project entitled “Transfer of innovative training solutions for VET of quality professionals” (acronym TIT-us) financed by European Commission. It addresses to the need of designing new VET courses for training in quality management qualifications. Our approach for quality design of VET courses is to add the methodological step to the ...

Forest certification was introduced in the early 1990s to address concerns of deforestation and forest degradation and to promote the maintenance of biological diversity, especially in the tropics. Initially pushed by environmental groups, it quickly evolved as a potential instrument to promote sustainable forest management (SFM). To date about 124 million ha or 3.2% of the world's forests have...

The purpose of the study was to develop organization-based core performance measures (CPMs) for breast cancer patients treated in hospitals that participated in cancer quality improvement programmes in Taiwan. CPMs were developed in three stages that included a preparation, a consensus building stage, and two stages of stakeholder feedback. Three criteria and seven subcriteria were applied in t...

Six Sigma and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) offer a new approach to Total Quality Management with a more integrated approach, standardized training and certification, and financial accountability for i nvestment in improvements. A core principle of DFSS is the Transfer Function (y=f(x)), whereby customer requirements are transferred into Critical-to-Quality requirements (CTQ). DFSS uses the House...

The Quality Oncology Practice Initiative (QOPI) Certification Program (QCP) evaluates individual outpatient oncology practice performance in areas that affect patient care and safety and builds on the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) QOPI by assessing the compliance of a practice with certification standards based on the ASCO/Oncology Nursing Society standards for safe chemotherapy ...

BACKGROUND Organized stroke care is associated with improved outcomes. Data are limited on differences in changes in the quality of acute stroke care at The Joint Commission-certified Primary Stroke Centers (PSCs) versus non-PSCs over time. METHODS AND RESULTS We compared compliance with the Joint Commission's 10 acute stroke care performance measures and defect-free care in PSCs and non-PSCs...

BACKGROUND Death certification is the basis for the study of mortality patterns and the identification of leading causes of death. These data are used for planning health policies and prevention programs. AIM To evaluate the quality of mortality statistics in Chile from 1997 and 2003. MATERIAL AND METHODS Mortality data from 1997 to 2003 available at the Chilean Ministry of Health was used....

The ISO 9000:2000 family of standards emphasizes continual improvement. As an integral part of the ISO 9004 standard, eight quality management principles are introduced to guide organizational improvement. This paper explains how to use these principles, the customer-supplier model, and the requirement for a well-managed process, to create a comprehensive auditing checklist. In addition to proc...

1. Using gauges and instruments, lean, six sigma opportunities 2. Sampling issues further explored 3. Quality characteristics, important features and certification 4. Evaluating gauges, measurement error 5. Gauge R & R, traceability and the broader quality system 6. Traditional versus new approaches--supervisors, operators and others 7. 100% inspection and sampling influences on quality charact...