QUALITY-CONTROL AND THE PRACTICE OF CLINICAL-PSYCHOLOGY

Because of current health care reforms, quality control, accountabilit y, and cost-effectiveness have become important issues in the practice of clinical psychology. It is imperative that practicing clinicians b egin to evaluate their services to assess whether they demonstrate hig h quality and cost-effectiveness, as well as a continued commitment to quality improvement. Deming's (1986) approach to quality control is d iscussed as a useful strategy for improving effectiveness in the pract ice of clinical psychology. This approach emphasizes the process of id entification of the client population, improvements through incrementa l processes: and evaluation of outcomes. Organizational Behavior Manag ement (OBM) techniques are also reviewed as useful ways in which to su pplement and improve on Deming's approach to quality control. Science and quality control are discussed as being inherently coherent. The sc ientist-practitioner model dictates that services provided to clients should be rigorously evaluated. Various procedures for evaluating the quality of services provided in clinical practice are discussed.