Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

GUM and six sigma approaches positioned as deterministic tools in quality target engineering

  • General Paper
  • Published:
Accreditation and Quality Assurance Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In order to improve the quality and logistics of care, health care organizations should deal with uncertainty of demand and supply, inflexibility of the health care organization and its capacity and organizational complexity. What is needed is integrated process management and standardization to improve quality and safety of care, patient logistics and working conditions of staff. This paper tries to fuse (and in that way better understand) the concept of six sigma with the guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement in relation to the concept of target engineering.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Goldschmidt H, Libeer JC, De Bièvre P, Schimmel H, Hyltoft Petersen P (2004) How far can the concepts of traceability and GUM/VIM be applied to measurement results in laboratory medicine. Accred Qual Assur 9:125–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Bertels T (ed) (2003) Rath & Strong’s six sigma leadership handbook. Wiley, Hoboken, NJ, p 488

  3. Kaplan RS, Cooper R (1997) Cost & effect: using integrated cost systems to drive profitability and performance. Harvard Business School, Boston, MA, p 217 (see also page 224)

  4. Van Merode F (2004) A prelude of the 2004 Antwerp Quality Conference: targets and target values—integrating quality management and costing. Accred Qual Assur 9:168–171

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Pyzdek T (2003) The six sigma handbook: a complete guide for green belts, black belts, and managers at all levels. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  6. BIPM, IEC, IFCC, ISO, IUPAC, IUPAP, OIML (1995) Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM). ISO, Geneva

    Google Scholar 

  7. Liker JK (2004) The Toyota way. McGraw-Hill, New York, p 28/29 (see also page 31)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Hyman WA (2003) The application of HACCP in clinical engineering. J Clin Eng (July/September):158–162

  9. Westgard JO, Barry PL, Hunt MR, Groth T (1981) A multi-rule Shewhart chart for quality control in clinical chemistry. Clin Chem 27:494–501

    Google Scholar 

  10. Nevalainen D, Berte L, Kraft C, Leigh E, Morgan T (2000) Evaluating laboratory performance on quality indicators with the six sigma scale. Arch Pathol Lab Med 124:516–519

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. ISO (1995) Guide to expression of uncertainty in measurement. ISO, Geneva

  12. Herzlinger R (1997) Market-driven health care. Harvard Business School/Perseus Books, Cambridge, MA

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maastricht, P.O. Box 616, 6200, Maastricht, The Netherlands

    Frits van Merode & Hanneke Molema

  2. Regional Diagnostic Services Center, Tilburg (DCT), Ledeboerstraat 39, 5048, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Henk Goldschmidt

  3. DeltaLab, DeltaBouman Institution, P.O. Box 800, 3170, Poortugaal, The Netherlands

    Henk Goldschmidt

Authors
  1. Frits van Merode
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Hanneke Molema
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Henk Goldschmidt
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Frits van Merode.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

van Merode, F., Molema, H. & Goldschmidt, H. GUM and six sigma approaches positioned as deterministic tools in quality target engineering. Accred Qual Assur 10, 32–36 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-004-0876-0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00769-004-0876-0

Keywords

Search

Navigation