Status of total quality management in Australian public health organisations

Abstract

Research suggests that there is some confusion among quality improvement managersabout the differences between quality management and traditional quality assurance.This lack of understanding would appear to be the same among rural and urbanhealth staff, although there is a higher percentage of staff engaged in multidisciplinaryactivities in the rural health services. Education of staff and commitment from topmanagement would seem to be the factors inhibiting the health industry fromincorporating quality management into their cultures.