Survey of Improvement Practices

 

We gather this information in order to advise you about how to improve your organization faster.  This questionnaire does not assign blame to individuals or attribute failure to projects.  The information you supply is confidential and not shared with your organization except through you.  Furthermore, the information will not be reported elsewhere in ways that would identify your organization. 

What can you expect?

You will receive a written report from us.  The report will compare your improvement process to your peer organizations.  It will contain improvement benchmarks against which you can judge your practices.  We will also advise you to implement specific practices so that your organization can improve faster. 

How many projects should be reviewed?

We asked that you use the enclosed forms, or copies of the enclosed forms, to review at least four most recently completed improvement projects in your organization.  You would need to complete a separate form (sections C & D) for each project.  At a minimum, you must provide information on four projects so that we can examine patterns across projects.  You can ask others (key individuals intimately familiar with the specific project) to complete section C and D.  You can also ask them to mail their reports directly to us so that their input is kept confidential and anonymous.  Please list the titles of projects you wish to report and names of people completing the reports:

 

Project title

Name of person reporting

Telephone number

1.

 

 

 

2.

 

 

 

3.

 

 

 

4.

 

 

 

5.

 

 

 

6.

 

 

 

 

 

A.  Contact information for feedback

 No information about you or your organization is collected and maintained in the database

B.   Organization information

This section asks questions that help us select other organizations that can serve as benchmarks to you.

1.     What type of organization are you working for (select all that applies)? 

  • Hospital

  • Clinic

  • Heath plan

  • University or teaching institution

  • Nursing home

  • Home health agency

  • Consulting organization

  • Other, please specify:

2.     How many employees work within your organization?

3.     What is the approximate annual budget of your organization?

4.     How many patients receive services from your organization within a year?
________ in-patients
________ out-patients

5.     Do you face a serious market competition?   

  • No

  • Not yet, but soon

  • Yes

  • I do not know

6.   What percent of your market comes from local, regional, national or international sources (give approximate percentages)? 

  • Local (City or metropolitan area you are located) _____%

  • Regional _____%

  • National (not in the region you are located) _____%

  • International _____%

7.  How many years has your organization tried to use Total Quality Management (Continuous Quality Improvement) or similar methods of improvement?

Please copy the following and complete a set for each of the improvement projects you are reporting to us.  Report at least four so that we can examine patterns across them.

C.    What happened, when?

This section asks you to describe the way in which improvement process worked in your organization.  

8.     Project title:

9.     What is today's date  (Through out this survey enter all dates as MM/DD/YY)?

 10.     What role did you have in this project?   

  • Team member

  • Team leader

  • Project sponsor

  • Facilitator or consultant

  • Other, specify:

In the following, give approximate dates for each of the requested activities.  If the activity has not been done, instead of a date write "Not done".  If you plan to do it, put in planned date.  Leave planned date empty if the activity has been done.  Put in "?" if you do not remember the date and cannot guess the date.  Note that we are not looking for precision, approximate dates will do.  Remember to enter dates in the MM/DD/YY format. 

11.     Organization was informed about policies for quality improvement

12.     The problem/opportunity was first identified

13.     The administration identified or accepted the problem opportunity as needing attention

14.     Project team members were invited to address the problem/opportunity.

15.     Project team met for the first time

16.     Project team stated the problem/opportunity

17.     Data were collected and analyzed to show the extent of the problem / opportunity 

18.     Story board or other media were used to alert the organization to the problem/opportunity 

19.     Project team started examining and charting the existing processes ("as-is conditions") 

20.     Project team completed the examination or charting of the existing processes 

21.     Project team generated several possible ways to change existing processes

22.     Project team selected an improvement to try on a pilot basis 

23.     Proposed change tried in a limited, controlled, small scale pilot  

24.     Started collecting data on whether the pilot change was an improvement 

25.     Finished collecting data on whether pilot change was an improvement 

26.     Another change tried in a limited , controlled, small scale pilot (2nd pilot)

 27.     Started collecting data on whether 2nd pilot change was an improvement

28.     Finished collecting data on whether 2nd pilot change was an improvement

29.     Storyboard (or other company wide reports) displayed whether change led to improvements

30.     Pilot improvement was adopted by the unit in which it was tried (limited rollout)

31.     Pilot improvement used by other organizational units (rollout)

32.     Project participants were thanked and recognized publicly

33.     Improvement team stopped regular meetings

 

 

 34.     Does your organization routinely track benchmarking data? 

  • No

  • Yes

35.     How did the organization identify the improvement opportunity?  (If there are multiple responses, enter the response that involved the most effort and resources) 

  • Employee suggestions

  • Customer suggestions

  • Benchmarking against peer organizations

  • By examining internal measures of performance,

36.     Write the exact text of the problem/opportunity that the team used in their deliberations:

_________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________________

 

37.   In each row, check the box closest to your evaluation of above problem / opportunity statement:

Describes how a group of employees contribute or can solve a problem               Describes how the system to processes contribute to the problem
Provides details               States the problem in general terms
Describes the experience of the customers               Describes performance of employees
A problem that management can address without clinical input               Clinical problem or opportunity
Describes a gap in the operations               Describes opportunity for future operations
Includes a general direction for a solution               Raises questions or concerns but provides no answers
Most central problem the organization faces               Small doable problem but not central to survival of the organization


38.     How much effort did various people put into the project?  In the following, enter the effort in terms of number of hours each group spent on the project during various components of the project.  If two people spent 4 working days on problem identification, put 4*8=32 hours.  Put zero if no one from the group was involved in the specified phase of change.  You do not need to be precise, give your best guess.  If you cannot guess, put "?"

 

 

 

Group

Involved during

Problem identification

Solution generation

Pilot testing of change

Organization -wide implementation

Upper administration

 

 

 

 

 

Project sponsor

 

 

 

 

 

Project team leader

 

 

 

 

 

Clinical team members

 

 

 

 

 

Non-clinical team members

 

 

 

 

Process owners outside of team

 

 

 

 

Group facilitator

 

 

 

 

 

Outside experts

 

 

 

 

 

Other, please describe: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

39.     How did the time associated with the effort compare to what was budgeted or expected at the start of the effort? 

  • Radically less than expected

  • Less than expected

  • As expected

  • Radically more than expected

  • More than expected

40.     We often have to calculate the approximate investment in the improvement effort.  To do so, we need the approximate hourly rate for individuals in the following categories: 

  • Upper administration: _____ / hour

  •  Project sponsor: _____ / hour

  •  Project team leader: _____ / hour

  •  Clinical team members: _____ / hour

  •  Non-clinical team members: _____ / hour

  •  Process owners outside of team: _____ / hour

  •  Group facilitator: _____ / hour

  •  Outside experts: _____ / hour

  •  Other: _____ / hour

41.     Approximately how many times did the project team meet during the project?

42.     How many hours long was an average meeting? 

  • Less than 1 hour

  • 1 hour

  • 2 hours

  • 3 hours

  • 4 hours

  • 5 hours

  • 6 hours

  • 7 hours

  • 8 hours

  • 9 hours

  • 10 hours

43.     Which of the following was done prior to a typical face-to-face meeting (check all that apply)? 

  • Meeting time and agenda were distributed

  • Documents or reports that were supposed to be discussed in the meeting were distributed ahead of time,  

  • A person met, called or emailed all team members and polled them on key issues to be discussed in the meeting

  • Only meeting time and place was set.

44.     Did the team consciously try to re-think or delay decisions it had already arrived at?   

  • Never

  • Sometimes

  • Often

  • Always

  • Not sure

 45.  In each row, check the box closest to how team members would characterize their meetings:
 
Long and time consuming               Short and well organized
More productive than they expected               Not as productive as they would have liked
Fun and social               Task oriented
Dominated by views of one person or subgroup               Respecting interdisciplinary differences and views

 

46.     How much work was done in between project meetings? 

  • Not much
  • Some
  • A great deal
  • Most work

47.  In how much detail did the project team describe the existing work processes?  (If multiple activities were done, enter the response that involved the most effort and resources) 

  • Not much

  • Some details

  • Detailed flow charts

  • Detailed descriptions

48.     When did the project team describe the process they were planning to improve (usually done through flow charts)?   

  • Not done

  • Before generating solutions

  • After arriving at solutions

  • All along,

49.     How did the group select changes to pilot test? 

  • Ideas were discussed as they came up

  • Discussion was postponed until a list was made of possible changes

  • No particular pattern was followed

  • Unknown

50.     Did a person facilitate most team meetings? 

  • Yes, a member of the team did

  • Yes, someone from outside the team did

  • No

  • Not sure

51.     Was data collected to examine whether the pilot change had led to improvement? 

  • No,

  • Yes, If yes, which of the following was done during the data collection?

  • Sampling of respondents

  • Reliance on numerical estimates of persons close to the process

  • Use of data routinely collected about the performance of the process

  • People who collected the data were informed of data collection procedures before knowing what data should be collected

 52.     When did employees in other units of the organization first hear about this project?

  • At start and end of project

  • Through out the project            

  • At end of project

  • No organized attempt was made to inform other units of the organization

53.     Did the administration or team members take any of the following steps to encourage others in the organization to adopt the recommendations of the team (mark all that apply):

  • No specific steps were taken

  • Written team reports were distributed widely

  • Team members walked key other employees through the report or possible change

  • People interested in adopting the recommendations were invited to meet socially together and discuss their issues

  • Media (email, newsletters, videotapes, etc.) were used to portray a positive image for change

  •  Work norms and policies were changed to encourage adoption of the recommendations

  • Examples were set at top of organization

  • Key decision makers were repeatedly reminded of the potential advantage of change over several months

  • Budget was allocated for change

  • Early adopters were recognized and praised publicly and asked to speak about their experiences

  • Other, please specify:

D.  Did it work?

In this last and final, section we ask you to estimate the impact of the improvement project.  We ask you to provide the percentage of improvement compared to baseline values.  Please complete a separate section D for each project. 

54.     Was the intent of the pilot project to save costs?

  • I am not sure

  • No

  • Yes  If yes, were there any savings?

  • No data is available.

  • It is too early to tell.

  • Yes, potential future costs have been avoided,  The dollar amount saved in future costs: $________

  • Yes, real costs have been avoided and as a consequence the budget for the unit has been modified.  The dollar amount the budget was reduced was: $_______

55.     Was the intent of the project to improve client satisfaction?

  • I am not sure

  • No

  • Yes  If yes, (select and answer all that apply)

  • No improvements made in customer satisfaction.

  • Too early to tell.

  • The project improved customer satisfaction by ___ ___%.

  •  There was improvement in customer satisfaction but these improvements have not been measured.

  •  Not sure whether the project made any improvements in satisfaction of customers.

56.     Was the intent of the project to increase sales or market share?

  • I am not sure

  • No

  • Yes  If yes, (select and answer all that apply)

  • No improvements made

  • Too early to tell.

  • The project improved sales by ___ ___%.

  • There was improvement but these improvements have not been measured.

  • Not sure whether the project made any improvements.

57.     Has the project improved the quality of product / services offered by this unit?

  • I am not sure

  • No

  • Yes  If yes, (select and answer all that apply)

  • The project increased patients' access to services by ___ ___%.

  • The project reduced mortality of patients by ___ ___%.

  • The project reduced morbidity of patients by ___ ___%.

  • The project increased patients' health status by ___ ___%.

  • The project improved _________________ by ___ ___%.

58.     Has the project improved the employees' quality of work life?

  • I am not sure

  • No

  • Yes  If yes, (select and answer all that apply)

  • Employees work is more convenient.

  • Employees have to do less because redundant activities have been streamlined.

  • Employees roles are better defined, communication is more enhanced and interpersonal conflicts are reduced.

  • Employees are more aware of each other's work.

  • Employees socialize more with each other.

 _________________________________________________________________________________________

Thank you.  This completes the survey of one project.  The information you have provided will be combined with four other projects and used to find patterns across the improvement efforts. The information you have provided is kept confidential.  Neither you, nor the project will be identified in our reports.  Do you know your code so that if you want to have access to the data you can do so?

  • Yes

  • No

 Please send this survey to: 

Farrokh Alemi, Ph.D.

George Mason University
4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22030-4444
703-993 4226
Facsimile: 703-993 1953
Email: Email