TY - JOUR
T1 - Improving service delivery in a county health department WIC clinic
T2 - An application of statistical process control techniques
AU - Boe, Debra Thingstad
AU - Riley, William
AU - Parsons, Helen
PY - 2009/9/1
Y1 - 2009/9/1
N2 - Local public health agencies are challenged to continually improve service delivery, yet they frequently operate with constrained resources. Quality improvement methods and techniques such as statistical process control are commonly used in other industries, and they have recently been proposed as a means of improving service delivery and performance in public health settings. We analyzed a quality improvement project undertaken at a local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic to reduce waiting times and improve client satisfaction with a walk-in nutrition education service. We used statistical process control techniques to evaluate initial process performance, implement an intervention, and assess process improvements. We found that implementation of these techniques significantly reduced waiting time and improved clients' satisfaction with the WIC service.
AB - Local public health agencies are challenged to continually improve service delivery, yet they frequently operate with constrained resources. Quality improvement methods and techniques such as statistical process control are commonly used in other industries, and they have recently been proposed as a means of improving service delivery and performance in public health settings. We analyzed a quality improvement project undertaken at a local Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) clinic to reduce waiting times and improve client satisfaction with a walk-in nutrition education service. We used statistical process control techniques to evaluate initial process performance, implement an intervention, and assess process improvements. We found that implementation of these techniques significantly reduced waiting time and improved clients' satisfaction with the WIC service.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=69049113981&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=69049113981&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2105/AJPH.2008.138289
DO - 10.2105/AJPH.2008.138289
M3 - Article
C2 - 19608964
AN - SCOPUS:69049113981
SN - 0090-0036
VL - 99
SP - 1619
EP - 1625
JO - American journal of public health
JF - American journal of public health
IS - 9
ER -