In Chapter 8, Clinical Support Service functions have been divided between clinical and managerial within the professional arena.  The text indicates that both areas are essential.  Added to that, CSSs will share any number of the functions that are common to both.  Eight functions were identified and these are:

1.        Ensuring quality of service,

2.       promoting effective use,

3.        managing the physical facility,

4.       providing patient-and physician-friendly amenities,

5.        scheduling and coordinating care,

6.       continuously improving,

7.       budgeting, and

8.       recruiting associates.

The relationship between protocols and functions is interactive.  As the text has stated, “protocols improve functional processes by several different mechanisms:

1.        Eliminate unnecessary or redundant tasks

2.       Alerting for tasks previously overlooked or omitted

3.       Standardization of supplies

4.       Scheduling or resequencing to reduce errors or delays

5.       Substituting lower-cost personnel for specific activities

6.       Reengineering the care process” (Chapter 5)

The question is:  If healthcare is customer driven, then would operational efficiency operate with appropriate interaction between functions and protocols at such a level that meeting the requirements from which customer satisfaction is determined attain the category of “delighters” using a Kano analysis and what criteria are needed to support the outcome?