Implementation of Quality Assurance in Europe

Abstract

Claiming that quality assurance in Europe is a growth industry, the paper looks at this development from three angles: Has quality assurance become a science? Is it being practised? And how can quality assurance be successfully introduced? The paper concludes that quality assurance cannot yet be considered ‐ nor does it need to become ‐ a science, meeting the usual criteria of a scientific discipline. In spite of this, quality assurance has to be based on sound scientific evidence. There are encouraging signs of this happening: while there is no long research tradition in quality assurance, the number of studies is increasing and their quality is improving. On positive action, the paper finds the situation brighter. There is both political will and professional acceptance. WHO's European member states have accepted as a part of their overall health for all policy a specific target which requests them to build effective mechanisms for ensuring quality of patient care. The increasing professional interest and political will have resulted, among other things, in laws, quality assurance programmes, training programmes, national societies and journals. Views on quality and quality assurance have broadened; consumer views are being accepted as part of quality; the outcomes of care are emphasised; quality assurance is being extended from hospitals to primary care and nursing homes, and from medical care to nursing care and physiotherapy. Based on lessons learned from the past experiences, the last section of the paper makes recommendations for the successful introduction of quality assurance. The importance of demonstrating a need, the involvement of all those concerned and the provision of feedback are emphasised.

Citation

Vuori, H. (1989), "Implementation of Quality Assurance in Europe", Journal of Management in Medicine, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 119-125. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb060537