Learning from experience--a revised approach to quality assurance.

Abstract

This article introduces a model for directing quality assurance activity in hospitals outside of the US. We believe that this model will be more expedient than the systems presently in use. The rationale for this new approach is based on the American experience but proposes an improved organizational and scientific method that has evolved to replace the previously existing ad hoc committees and punitive, post-factum approach. The suggested model includes the establishment of an inter-related network of institutional and departmental committees coupled with the active participation of the hospital director and a specialized unit for quality assurance activities. This approach has the potential for affording major improvements in the implementation of quality assurance in hospitals, outside of the US, which have not been part of the evolutionary process which has taken place in America.