Establishing an ISO 10001-based promise in inpatients care

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore ISO 10001:2007 in planning, designing and developing a customer satisfaction promise (CSP) intended for inpatients care.

Design/methodology/approach

Through meetings and interviews with research participants, who included a program manager, unit managers and registered nurses, information about potential promises and their implementation was obtained and analyzed. A number of promises were drafted and one was finally selected to be developed as a CSP.

Findings

Applying the standard required adaptation and novel interpretation. Additionally, ISO 10002:2004 (Clause 7) was used to design the feedback handling activities. A promise initially chosen for development turned out to be difficult to implement, experience that helped in selecting and developing the final promise. Research participants found the ISO 10001-based method useful and comprehensible.

Practical implications

This paper presents a specific health care example of how to adapt a standard’s guideline in establishing customer promises. The authors show how a promise can be used in alleviating an existing issue (i.e. communication between carers and patients). The learning can be beneficial in various health care settings.

Originality/value

To the knowledge, this paper shows the first example of applying ISO 10001:2007 in a health care case. A few activities suggested by the standard are further detailed, and a new activity is introduced. The integrated use of ISO 10001:2007 and 10002:2004 is presented and how one can be “augmented” by the other is demonstrated.

Citation

Khan, M.A.R. and Karapetrovic, S. (2015), "Establishing an ISO 10001-based promise in inpatients care", International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 100-114. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJHCQA-05-2013-0050