Table 2

Characteristics of the 20 selected tools

Collect dataAnalyseVisualiseMeasureMonitorSelect
5W1H=Who, What, Where, When, How, Why; PDPC=process decision program chart; PERT=program evaluation and review technics.
Problem solving tools:
    (1) Data sheet××
    (2) Pareto chart×××
    (3) Cause-effect diagram××
    (4) Histogram×
    (5) Brainstorming×
    (6) 5W1H×
Quality management tools:
    (7) Affinity diagram (K-J method)××
    (8) Relations diagram (interrelationship digraph or ID)××
    (9) Matrix diagram×
    (10) Decision tree×××
    (11) PDPC×××
    (12) Simplified PERT×××
Miscellaneous tools:
    (13) Flowchart××
    (14) Simple vote×
    (15) Weighted vote×
    (16) Satisfaction questionnaire×
    (17) Quality indicator×××
    (18) Quality audit×
    (19) Focus group××
    (20) Critical path or map (or care path or clinical path)××