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Paper explains evolution of Global Quality Management Theory through changes of different quality management approaches in time and compares it to the evolution of Quality Management in Healthcare. Authors relied on already existing information and data sources published in scientific journals to define evolution paths and conduct their comparison to identify gaps and recommend improvements in Healthcare Quality Management. Additionally, four major activities that could improve healthcare quality management emerged from analysis, such as: mechanism for constant and systematic tracing errors, managing quality of supportive processes, control of outsource organizations and application of IT for quality assurance.

The paper presents a survey conducted in November of 2013 in 120 higher education institutions in the Western Balkans Countries, with purpose to determine which models are used for quality improvement in Western Balkans higher educational institutions, and whether critical conditions for continuous quality improvement have been met by applying those models. Data were obtained by using questionnaire which consisted of 24 questions related to 2 previously defined hypotheses. Gathered data were tested with Student's t test to determine if there is a significant difference between the groups of higher educational institutions which use different quality models, as well as between private and public higher educational institutions. Authors argue that the rules imposed by Governments do not provide sufficient incentive for meeting the critical conditions for the continuous quality improvement. Legal framework and mandatory accreditation conducted by government bodies lead higher educational institutions to fulfil the formal requirements, distancing them from the essence of quality management, i.e. from self-criticism and motivation to consistently deliver better results than the previous ones and giving them the illusion of achieving quality through compliance with formal criteria.

Considering that some organizations implemented the ISO 9001 standard more than 25 years ago, while others did it a while ago, some quality management systems (QMS) are older than others. This fact led authors to question whether there are differences between long and recently implemented quality management systems. Is there a pattern that QMS follows in its aging that could be considered as a life cycle of QMS? From October 2013 to June 2014, authors have conducted a survey in 186 certified companies using structured questionnaire in order to learn whether there was a significant difference between long and recently implemented QMSs. Collected data were processed using the ANOVA test with a confidence interval of 95%, i.e., α=0. 05. Results show that there is a difference between quality management systems in the mature stage and those recently implemented. However, research pointed out two facts. First,34.41% of all surveyed companies apply QMS partially and have virtual QMS that has no purpose of improving business performances but only the purpose of maintaining the company’s certificate. Second, in companies that apply QMS fully, the frequency of all processes (which are elements of QMS) decreases in the first seven years of implementation, while after that period it begins to increase. Also, the paper describes indicators for determining companies which partially apply QMS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies have shown that implemented models for quality assurance or improvement in healthcare facilities differ, even those models that are based on the same guidelines, i.e. standards, regulations or concepts. The cause of diversity in implemented quality models could be found in the process of translating guidelines into the implemented model for quality assurance or improvements in healthcare facilities, while neglecting processes of healthcare facilities that are not clinical processes, but still responsible for the quality of healthcare services. Therefore, this research recommends a conceptual model that should be a link between guidelines, implemented models and mathematical models derived from the conceptual model, which could provide a means of evaluating quality values of any part of the healthcare organization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]