بررسي ميزان آمادگي دانشگاه هاي علوم پزشكي كشور براي اجراي مديريت جامع كيفيت از ديدگاه مديران آموزشي

Readiness of Iran Universities of Medical Sciences for Conducting Total Quality Management (TQM) according to Educational Managersʹ Point of View

Background & Objective: Total Quality Management (TQM) is a new approach to management which must be implemented gradually during some stages. The first step is to create readiness for change; conducting quality management is not possible before acquiring enough readiness. This study was conducted to evaluate the readiness of Iran Universities of Medical Sciences for conducting Total Quality Management (TQM) according to educational managersʹ point of view. Methods: In this descriptive study, the participants were all educational managers of 34 Universities of Medical Sciences including 314 vice chancellors for educational affairs, heads of Medical Education Development Centers, deans and pro-vice chancellors for education. Data was collected using a researcher-made questionnaire containing 27 questions about 11 signs of readiness. Results: The results of this study revealed that, considering readiness for conducting Total Quality Management, 9% of the universities were moderate (50 to 59% of the score), 79% were approximately good (60 to 69% of the score) and 12% were good (70 to 73% of the score ). The mean score for universitiesʹ readiness was 64.5%. Readiness for applying TQM philosophy in behavior had the highest score while readiness for allocating resources had the lowest score (78% and 47.86% respectively). Conclusion: The results imply that the universities have had an improving trend and an appropriate atmosphere is ready for conducting Total Quality Management.