Application of Statistical Process Control in Healthcare: A Case Study

Quality of services rendered to the patients is of vital importance in the whole process of health-care. On account of large population of the country, poor per capita income, inadequate ratio of number of patients to the number of doctors as well as poor medical infrastructure the quality is quiet poor and needs urgent attention on the part of planners and executers of health-care systems in the country. In the wake of above it was decided to have a preliminary critical look at the current health-care system. The overall volume being very large it was decided to focus on small segment using Statistical Process Control as a tool of study. A case study of the hospital was taken to implement Statistical Process Control tools. This study involves a look into two areas, namely:-occurrence of post surgical wound infection in the general surgery department and the time spent by patients at various stages of health-care process in outpatient department (O.P.D), to bring out the lapses and suggest suitable remedial measures. For the purpose two case studies have been conducted and results presented thereof. This study reveals serious gaps consequently considering the scope of improvement.