Case Study

FALLS CHURCH GENERAL HOSPITAL This case is designed to give students an opportunity to consider ways that a service organization, specifically a hospital, might seem different from manufacturing because service is not as easy to measure as the dimension of a part. However, as students begin to think about the dimensions of a hospital’s service, they may see ways that service can be measured. The answers to this case are based in part on a similar case in M.A. Vonderembse and G. P. White’s Operations Management: Concept, Methods, and Strategies(Eagan, Minn.: West Publishing Company, 1988). 1. Why is it important to get the patient’s assessment of health care quality? Does the patient have the expertise to judge the health care he or she receives? The patient is the customer. If the patient “perceives” that the health care received is inadequate, then he or she may go elsewhere the next time these services are needed. Although patients may not have the expertise to judge some aspects of 2 health care, they can judge appearances of competence, improvements in the way they feel, how they are treated, the cleanliness and comfort of the environment, and timely responses to service requests. 2. How might a hospital measure quality? Measuring quality in a service setting such as a hospital can sometimes be difficult. One obvious way is to keep track of the number of patient complaints—or even lawsuits. Some other measures that could be used include, but are not limited to, the following: ■ Average time for nurses to respond to a patients’ call ■ Average time spent by patients in intensive care ■ Average recovery time after surgery ■ Average condition of patients upon discharge ■ Change in patient condition between admission and discharge ■ Number patients per staff member 3. Using the steps in the table in the case discuss how each might apply to FCGH. To answer this question, one must remember that the