“This was an eye-opener, even for me, to see a public organization applying quality management. It applies in public organizations too. That really captured my attention because it has not been part of my experience.”
Shaker happened upon his passion for quality management in health care as a coop student for vaccine manufacturer Sanofi Pasture. He spent four months in the quality department on a four-month placement and fell in love with it.
“I liked the documentation and the procedures. It is not open-ended. It is all very precise and specific. Being able to define processes and be specific, with no room for interpretation really excited me about this field. I’ve been in the industry now for 10 years.”
The health care industry, including hospitals in Manitoba and British Columbia, has been a leader in the quality management area, he says. “Hospitals are reducing wait times and implementing better systems. There are multiple barriers in health care, but we will get there. We are making baby steps… Are hospital wait times too long? Are we over-processing and doing extra tasks that could be eliminated? It’s about the whole system.”
It’s challenging, he says.
“But once you get the hang of it, once you have the culture, it becomes intuitive. It always takes a team approach, and success should be celebrated with the team. No one can do it alone. It is very rewarding to build an effective system.”
“You can understand the concepts of quality management. We can teach you how to do it. But you will never do it on your own. Success takes a team effort. It requires a cultural change, and for others to buy into the process and have the time to do it. People are often too busy to improve.”
While enforcement from regulatory bodies drives quality management results, in Shaker’s opinion, forcing people to obey the rules is not the best approach. He says people can be motivated by the positive incentives like knowing an improved process will reduce waste, for example.
Quality management is about moving people effectively, moving inventory effectively, identifying and understanding the defects in your system and process and eliminating them. From manufacturing to health care, the potential of quality management continues to improve more and more businesses and organizations as it expands into additional industries. In business, non-profit, government, education, small business, and more, professionals are managing quality to achieve success.
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