Focus groups as a quality improvement technique: a case example from health administration education
| Pages | 224-233 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/09684889910297730 |
| Date | 01 December 1999 |
| Published date | 01 December 1999 |
| Author | Janice L. Dreachslin |
| Subject Matter | Education |
Focus groups as a
quality improvement
technique: a case
example from health
administration
education
Janice L. Dreachslin
The need to assess satisfaction
Higher education is increasingly subject to
market forces similar to those encountered in
the private sector. These forces are perhaps
most pronounced and imminent in pro-
grammes that prepare students to enter the
professions and serve to focus attention on
evaluating the quality of the curriculum and
teaching methods as perceived by customers.
Health administration education in the USA
is a prime example of an area of study that is
undergoing fundamental change in response
to the demands of external stakeholders. Two
trends are converging that create a need to
restructure the curriculum as well as the
teaching and learning strategies currently
employed in graduate, undergraduate, and
continuing education programs for health
professionals:
(1) The fundamental restructuring of health
care financing and delivery.
(2) The increasing proportion of experienced
adult professionals pursuing lifelong
learning through graduate, under-
graduate, and continuing professional
education.
The fundamental restructuring of health care
financing and delivery in the USA is produ-
cing a changing marketplace for health
professionals and, consequently, a changing
student or customer base for graduate,
undergraduate, and continuing education in
the health professions. The US Bureau of
Labor Statistics and other (Guinn et al.,
1995) analyses of health care industry
employment trends confirm that, although
employment opportunities for health care
professionals will continue to grow, available
positions are shifting from the traditional
hospital setting to other provider settings
including physician group practices, home
health care, and long-term care facilities.
Managed care organisations, consulting firms,
and providers of products or services targeted
to the health care industry are increasingly
prominent among the current or prospective
employers of today's health care profes-
sionals. Changes in the traditional curriculum
should therefore be considered in response to
these trends in order to ensure the relevance
of both content and methods to adult
professionals who find themselves competing
in a changed marketplace.
With respect to university-based programs,
while the growth curve for the traditional
The author
Janice L. Dreachslin is Associate Professor of Health
Policy and Administration, Management Academic
Division, Penn State Great Valley School of Graduate
Professional Studies, Pennsylvania, USA.
Keywords
Adult education, Education, Focus groups,
Quality improvement
Abstract
States that growing numbers of experienced adult
professionals are pursuing higher education on a part-
time basis and are enrolling selectively in university and
workplace-based undergraduate, graduate, and continu-
ing professional education programs. As competition for
this growing population of lifelong learners increases, the
assessment of student satisfaction requires more atten-
tion. This article discusses the advantages of focus groups
± a structured group interview technique ± over other
techniques for assessing the satisfaction of adult learners,
presents key aspects of focus group methodology, and
provides a case illustration of focus group methodology
applied to quality improvement in a professional master's
level management program that serves adult profes-
sionals who are employed full-time in the health
professions.
Electronic access
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224
Quality Assurance in Education
Volume 7 .Number 4 .1999 .pp. 224±232
#MCB University Press .ISSN 0968-4883
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