QUALITY-ASSURANCE IN SWISS UNIVERSITY-HOSPITALS - A SURVEY AMONG CLINICAL DEPARTMENT-HEADS

Objective: To obtain information to help design and implement quality improvement programmes. Design: Questionnaire survey. Setting: Swiss U niversity Hospitals. Study participants: Clinical Department heads. Ma in outcome measures: Attitudes towards quality assurance and percentag e of departments with procedures for measurement and improvement of st ructure, process and outcome of medical care. Results: Among 138 depar tments responding, 69 indicated a designated person or group in charge of quality and 57 were involved in collaborative quality improvement programmes, Mortality data at the level of the department was unavaila ble to 33% of respondents, and data on adverse treatment effects to 67 % of them, Most respondents (69%) favoured the use of outcome indicato rs for quality control; only 13% favoured indicators pertaining to pro cess or structure of care, Among indicators of outcome, patient satisf action was the preferred indicator (25% of respondents), followed by m orbidity (16%) and mortality (12%) data.Conclusion: Although the quali ty of medical care in Switzerland enjoys an excellent reputation, this study highlights important gaps in the information system and the pro cesses necessary to evaluate quality. Copyright (C) 1996 Eslevier Scie nce Ltd.