The performance of a product is often evaluated by several QUALITY characteristics. Optimizing the manufacturing process with respect to only one QUALITY characteristic will not always lead to the optimum values for other characteristics. Hence, it would be desirable to improve the overall QUALITY of a product by improving QUALITY characteristics, which are considered to be important. The problem consists of optimizing several responses using multiple objective decision making (MODM) approach and design of experiments (DOE). A case study will be discussed to show the application of the proposed method

Introduction: QUALITY IMPROVEMENT projects are an important part of residency education in the United States and are required for accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. Participation in standard chart-based QUALITY IMPROVEMENT had failed to generate excitement among residents in our program. The objective of our innovation was to inspire interest in QUALITY IMPROVEMENT among our residents.Methods: Our residency program instituted a book discussion group. Attendance and participation of attendees was recorded, and residents were sent a follow-up survey one month after the activity to gauge their impressions.Results: Out of 16 residents in the program, 12 attended the discussion group, and all attendees participated in the discussion. The follow-up survey revealed that 10/11 (91%) of respondents had read at least part of the book and 11/11 (100%) wanted to have another book discussion group in the upcoming year.Conclusion: We believe that the use of a book discussion group can be a novel, inspiring strategy to teach QUALITY IMPROVEMENT in a residency program.