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Performance and Process Improvement Flashcards

7 cards from real CPHQ practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Performance and Process Improvement flashcards as text

  1. A hospital notices its central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) rate has increased over 3 months. Which improvement methodology would BEST guide a structured root cause analysis?

    Answer: Lean Six Sigma DMAIC

    DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) provides a structured framework for identifying root causes and implementing data-driven improvements.

  2. When using statistical process control (SPC), a point falling beyond the upper control limit on an X-bar chart indicates:

    Answer: A special cause requiring investigation

    Points beyond control limits signal special cause variation, which is non-random and requires investigation to identify and eliminate the assignable cause.

  3. A quality team wants to prioritize which of 12 identified process failures to address first. The MOST appropriate tool is:

    Answer: Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA)

    FMEA scores each failure by severity, occurrence, and detectability to calculate a Risk Priority Number, enabling systematic prioritization of improvement efforts.

  4. In process improvement, 'waste' in the Lean framework includes all of the following EXCEPT:

    Answer: Staff education and training

    Lean identifies eight types of waste (DOWNTIME), and staff education is considered value-added activity, not waste.

  5. A quality professional is evaluating whether a new patient discharge process is superior to the old one. Which statistical test is MOST appropriate for comparing two proportions?

    Answer: Chi-square test

    The chi-square test is used to compare proportions or frequencies between categorical groups, such as discharge complication rates between two process groups.

  6. The 'P' in the PDSA cycle stands for:

    Answer: Plan

    PDSA stands for Plan-Do-Study-Act, a cyclical improvement model used for testing changes on a small scale before wider implementation.

  7. Which of the following BEST describes a 'stretch goal' in healthcare performance improvement?

    Answer: An ambitious goal that requires innovative change to achieve

    Stretch goals are aspirational targets that exceed current performance and require fundamental process changes rather than incremental improvements.