PREMIER Policy

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What is the quality policy of an organization?

It is the expression of the aspirations, values and aims of the management regarding quality of its processes and results. The policy should show the engagement to achieve continual improvement and it must be shared or at least accepted by all staff in the research organization.

Objectives

A policy defines the objectives of the quality and therefore the objectives of the organization.

Background

The policy is defined by a general guiding principle consisting of the mission and vision, the scope and commitment to implement and maintain the self-defined standards.

The entire policy with mission and vision must be communicated to all employees, as they need to identify themselves with the quality objectives in general and their specific tasks.

Tasks / Actions

In order to create a lab specific action plan, the first step is an assessment, which will be carried out by the PREMIER team. The assessment will determine the status quo of the laboratory in regard to existing quality tools. Here you find the general tasks / actions that are necessary to implement the module.

Scope

PREMIER is to be implemented in a research environment where roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. First, the laboratory or organization should be defined where PREMIER should be applied either as a system or only as individual modules. The use of PREMIER is then mandatory for this research unit. All employees must be informed about PREMIER implementation so that the new rules can be followed in accordance with the requirements. The visualization of this process is made possible through an organization chart (Organigram).

What to do

• define the guiding principles / mission of the organization
• include commitment to good scientific practice

Mission

The mission statement should include the following aspects:

• A general statement on research quality, describing what quality means in a given context, where quality is most important and what the goal of your research unit or organization is in terms of research quality.
• Risks that arise from non-compliance with the policy.

Quality objectives that are to be achieved in order to improve research. Goals are defined which are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and traceable (SMART rule).

Self-commitment

The quality policy represents a voluntary commitment of the management and all employees of the organization to fulfil the established quality standards and to continuously improve the effectiveness of the system.

The organization supports each employee to familiarize with the basic principles of the PREMIER system or its single modules, as well as the more detailed documents relevant to every employee.

References

• Principles for Good Scientific Practice: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) https://www.dfg.de/en/research_funding/principles_dfg_funding/good_scientific_practice/​
• Conflicts of interest in research: looking out for number one means keeping the primary interest front and center: Paul L. Romain; PMID: 25851417; doi: 10.1007/s12178-015-9270-2 [1]