Quality management as a service and value for all

When Martina Bürgi-Hawel, Vice Director and COO of the Schulthess Clinic, Zurich, moved to her current employer a few years ago, she initially mapped the processes along the patient pathway. She was keen to make the many processes available electronically in a simple and user-friendly way.

The desire for electronic support
Transparently displayed processes without electronic management? Enormously time-consuming and hardly feasible today. It is therefore not surprising that Martina Bürgi-Hawel decided in 2017 to introduce an electronic process control and document management system. The catalogue of requirements is likely to coincide with the requirements of many Swiss quality professionals:

"It was clear to me that the program should not be too complex. Ideally, it should offer me the possibility to start without major entry hurdles. The tool should be clear and understandable for all users without any major training. In addition, the program should be able to be continuously optimized according to our needs.

And last but not least, I expect flexibility from such software. In our case, it was particularly important that we could freely model processes digitally. The reason: I had already created a process landscape in advance. The task was to transfer this as seamlessly as possible into the electronic tool."

A software becomes a daily working and auxiliary tool
After a thorough evaluation, the Schulthess Clinic opted for the IQSoft solution from IQS AG in Zofingen. Performance and price were convincing. "IQSoft seemed easy to use for everyone. In addition, it could be purchased on a modular basis."

"IQSoft is appreciated by our employees. It is fast, reliable, trans- parent, up-to-date, secure and simple."

Practical and comprehensive document control
A well-structured document management system makes processes comprehensible. It reminds you of pending tasks, displays processes clearly, promotes intuitive use and answers questions such as: Who wrote this document? Is it still current? Where does it belong?

This also works at Schulthess Kli- nik. Bürgi-Hawel: "Every employee quickly has the information they need. What's more, thanks to our visual process representation, users automatically look beyond their own horizons. They see networking, upstream and downstream processes become more perceptible and everyone has the same, up-to-date knowledge."

1200 users
If you ask Martina Bürgi-Hawel how many of the 1,200 employees have already seen IQSoft, she answers somewhat astonished: "Yes, ... all of them!" For her, it's clear that everyone in the large Schulthess team has a login for IQSoft - even without their own PC.

"And last but not least, I expect flexibility from software like this."

"You can never communicate too much transparently. Everyone has the right to up-to-date information. Everyone is equal, no matter what job they do with us." The reward for this philosophy: the gold medal as best employer in the health and social category 2018.

New employees at all levels learn about Schulthess Kli- nik's quality management during their introduction. The message: everyone has the responsibility to look. Every employee is a user of the quality management system and therefore also responsible for reporting changes or problems in the process flow to the responsible process manager.

Everything clickable
The Schulthess Clinic considers, processes and visualises its own processes on four levels: Management processes, core processes (the patient's journey), support processes and improvement processes. 3000 documents, framed by and structured in clear process descriptions, provide employees with information on all qualitatively relevant topics.

The visual representation of the processes is selectively clickable. And behind every click there are aids such as flow charts and important information including process metrics. The user can see who is responsible for an element. On the subpages, there are links to risk analyses and the possibility of recording all affected documents of a topic at a glance.

Always up to date
At the Schulthess Clinic, 35 people are responsible for the stored processes and documents. Each document is checked once a year and updated if necessary. Bürgi-Hawel: "The tool notifies those responsible for the process via Outlook which pending tasks are pending. It goes without saying that the implementation of a process and document management system requires a great deal of effort, but the added value, security and transparency more than compensate for this initial effort.

Audits without obstacles
Bürgi-Hawel, herself an SQS auditor, appreciates the simple audit planning and audit reporting from the tool. "This is well received by the internal auditors. The audit report generates itself as if by magic and can be debriefed by the auditors immediately after the audit. »

The value of solid key figures
"We regularly look at where we stand in the management. Starting from the process backbone 'patient pathway', we review our efficiency and effectiveness or look at patient satisfaction. Our overall evaluations are based on the key figures provided by the process managers and our own key figures. IQSoft reports processes as red or green (traffic light system). If the traffic light is red, the person responsible for the process is obliged to define suitable measures to get his processes back into the green zone."

Plenty of room for continuous improvement
The Schulthess Clinic values employees who think for themselves. That's why they have created their own process for the IQSoft module 'Opportunities for Improvement': "When someone sends us an idea, it is processed promptly, including confirmation to the sender. We also have a small reward system for implemented ideas."

Also included in this tool and process: audit measures, risk management tasks, patient feedback, information on health protection, occupational safety and general feedback from employees. Even inputs from external auditors or feedback from suppliers are incorporated. In short: everything is collected in one pot and thanks to electronic reminders nothing is forgotten.

Sensible use of resources
"Because IQSoft is easy to use, processes have been gradually simplified. In today's world, it is important to use existing resources wisely.