The EFQM management model for TQM applied to laboratory medicine

The EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management) model offers a struct ure to describe and characterize one's organization and allows the user to adapt the model to a great extent to the local working environment. Using f ive organization oriented enablers and four result oriented focused criteri a, any organization, or substantial part of it, can be characterized. This accounts certainly for a medical laboratory in a hospital setting. The mode l tries to encourage practical usefulness and self-guidance, continuous imp rovement in a natural, stepwise way, and change management focused on the p ositive things within the organization. Application leads to consciousness of the quality of the entire operation. diagnoses, and advises for quality improvement and managerial control, i.e., through indicators. As the work o f Islin and Thystrup illustrated, the EFQM model can be very elegantly and effectively applied to medical laboratories [1]. This paper is a compilatio n of nine lectures given in sequence to elaborate on each of the nine EFQM criteria. The following compilation explores the possibilities of using in a dedicated laboratory service this general quality management model by eac h of the criteria.