RABQSA International and the National Quality Institute of Canada have joined forces to promote personnel training and certification throughout Canada. The agencies will temporarily allow people and organizations currently registered to standards by NQI to also be registered to one or more of RABQSA’s certification schemes. The joint certifications will be administered by RABQSA and coordinated from NQI’s offices in Toronto.

“This is a significant development in gaining international recognition for NQI’s current certification services,” says Catherine Neville, vice president of NQI. “With the introduction of RABQSA certification into the Canadian market, NQI management systems auditors will benefit from RABQSA’s international standing as one of the world’s leading certification bodies.”

A new book concludes that medical practitioners need a better grasp of quality management principles, methods, programs, systems and experiences. The issue is the topic of a recently published book, Core Curriculum for Medical Quality Management, (Jones and Bartlett Publishers Inc., 2005). It features the contributions of nationally recognized leaders in medical quality management and encourages greater accountability within the industry.

According to the book, part of the quality gap in the U.S. health care system is due to an inadequate number of quality-minded physicians to facilitate quality improvement projects. Because reversing this trend requires education, the book aims at showing physicians and health care providers how to integrate quality into their practices.

“I believe that in the years to come this book will be the definitive resource for all quality-minded physicians,” says Dr. Robert Pendrak, president of the American College of Medical Quality. “We’ll use it as the basis for our own education programs and will promote its use to medical schools and residency programs.”

Minitab recently started offering its software to academic customers at discounted rates through e-academy.com, an online provider of brand-name software. The site offers MINITAB 14 in multiple languages, MINITAB French 13 and Minitab Quality Companion for as little as $29.99 per semester. Free, fully functional 30-day demos and perpetual-use versions of Minitab software are also available.

“Making our software accessible to students is one of our greatest priorities and we’re thrilled that e-academy’s technological advances are helping us accomplish that,” says Christine Bayly, Minitab’s academic sales leader. “And with thousands of companies in more than 80 countries using MINITAB, e-academy’s global distribution offers students not only affordable software, but also a chance to gain experience with a tool used by employers everywhere.”

For more information, visit www.e-academy.com/minitab.

Rath & Strong recently released a new pocket guide for practitioners of GE Work-Out, a methodology that helps improve Six Sigma and lean projects. GE Work-Out was developed by General Electric as a companion to already-established quality improvement programs. It creates a method to deal with important problems not suitable for lean Six Sigma or Six Sigma, integrates within the DMAIC process and creates behavioral habits that improve projects.

Packed with charts, checklists and assessment tools, Rath & Strong’s GE Work-Out for Six Sigma Pocket Guide is a comprehensive guide to the practice. It includes real-life examples with ideas for goals and targets, and addresses how to leverage GE Work-Out at any stage of a Six Sigma initiative.

“I like to think of GE Work-Out as the duct tape of process improvement,” says Dan Quinn, Rath & Strong president and CEO. “It does so many things, and does them so well, that it should be part of every organization’s process improvement toolbox, right along with Six Sigma, lean and lean Six Sigma.”

For more information, visit www.rathstrong.com.