Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence 10th Edition by James Evans ,William Lindsay

Exercise 11

The Janson Medical Clinic recently conducted a patient satisfaction survey of 100 patients. Using a scale of 1-5, with 1 being "very dissatisfied" and 5 being "very satisfied," the clinic compiled a check sheet for responses that were either 1 or 2, indicating dissatisfaction with the performance attributes. This check sheet is shown in Table 9.6.
Doctors have extremely busy schedules. They have surgeries to perform, and many are teaching faculty at the local medical school. Many surgeries are emergencies or take longer than expected, resulting in delays in getting back to the clinic.
In the clinic, one or two telephone receptionists answer calls for three different departments, which include 20 or more doctors. Their job is basically to schedule appointments, provide directions, and transfer calls to the proper secretaries, which generally requires putting the patient on hold. Often, the receptionist must take a handwritten message and personally deliver it to the secretary because the secretary's phone line is busy. However, the receptionist cannot leave her desk without someone else to cover the phones.
A student intern examined the processes for answering phone calls and registering patients. The flowcharts she developed are shown in Figures 9.28 and 9.29.
TABLE 9.6 Check Sheet of Dissatisfied Responses

FIGURE 9.28 Current Process for Answering Phone Calls

FIGURE 9.29 Current Patient Registration Process

Construct a Pareto diagram for the causes of dissatisfaction. What conclusions do you reach?