Journal of Quality Engineering and Management

Abstract  
The length of waiting time is considered as a key determinant of patient satisfaction level; besides, it has a significant impact on the effectiveness and quality of services which are provided to patients. In addition, Simulation study is also considered as an effective tool for improving patient flow, reducing waiting time and increasing patient satisfaction. Hence, in the present study we made use of simulation to improve the quality of health care in a urology unit which is a part of a kidney center in Tehran. Put differently, the aim of the current study was increasing the efficiency of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL) method besides reducing the waiting times and the patient cancellation rates. Therefore, a Discrete-Event Simulation model was developed using iGrafx software, which was later used in conjunction with MATLAB software to form and evaluate the urology unit improvement scenarios in three categories: changing technicians’ presence schedules during different shifts, changing the schedule of patient visits, and examining the factors that reduce the patient cancellation rate. The greatest differences were resulted from the employment of scheduling scenarios of patient visits on waiting time and duration of stay with averages of 23.33 and 22.81 minutes, respectively. In addition, the results of examining the factors that reduce patient cancellation rate demonstrated that the number of cancellations were decreased with an average of 1.44 cases per day. In each category of proposed scenarios, applying changes based on the selected scenario of that category led to significant improvements in performance criteria of the urology unit. It is also worth mentioning that the impact of scheduling scenarios of patient visits was much higher than other scenarios. 

Abstract Supply chain quality management as a systematic approach is defined to improve the performance of organizations by developing the opportunities created by the downstream and upstream communication with suppliers and customers in the organization. Today, companies are compelled to upgrade their product quality in order to establish extensive cooperation with other companies involved in the supply chain. The supply chain quality management provides the necessary conditions for establishing an effective cooperation in the field of supply chain. This article focuses on the critical success factors (CSFs) of supply chain quality management and performance measurement in organizations. For this purpose, first by surveying the literature the key factors were identified; later, seven key factors and 40 sub-factors were modified and verified by interviewing chain management executives and experts. Consequently, in the present study, seven key factors and 40 sub-factors for evaluating supply chain quality management are provided. In this study, in consultation with 30 experts and professors in the field of supply chain a questionnaire was prepared and its reliability was assessed. Further, based on paired comparisons and hierarchical analysis process the prioritization of indices was performed using Expert Choice software and, finally, the status of the company was examined. According to the results, the position of the company with regard to SCQM is not favorable, and more attention should be paid to it. The seven CSFs found in this paper demonstrate that the companies involved in the supply chain of a product should focus on seven domains for the implementation of SCQM. Considering the existing correlation between these domains, they should develop these seven domains simultaneously and with the help of each other. The 40 identified sub-criteria, also known as improvement points or critical points, are considered to be the axis of coordination of chain members in this field.