The quality quest

When did quality management become such an industry? We know only too well that today we're surrounded by requirements and regulations which force us to take an active approach to what is generally known as quality management. There is even a Chartered Quality Institute (CQI - not to be confused with the CQC) representing people who work in the quality industry. If you feel that the quality circus has only recently come to town to beleaguer the benighted dental business owner or manager you may (as I was) be surprised to learn that the CQI was founded as long ago as 1919. It seems that the concepts of quality as we understand them today have in fact been around for longer than we might think.

Of course there is a whole language involved in the quality business, although the term 'quality' is still often used in a rather vague way. Even the term 'quality management' doesn't aim to assure 'good quality' but rather to ensure that a practice is consistent in the way it goes about providing its service to its patients and clients. For most right minded professionals, quality management is basically about improving what we do and the way that we do. However to get to that point of improvement we do need to consider the twin peaks of quality control and quality assurance.