QUALITY ASSESSMENT USING INDICATORS FOR HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT OF OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGY PATIENTS

According to the law ( 137 SGB V) in Germany, hospitals have to implem ent quality-assurance (QB) programs, which are now of particular impor tance in times of ongoing structural change in health care. External a s well as internal methods of QA are well established and can serve as parameters for single processes and outcomes in most cases. However, there is still an urgent need for methods measuring the quality of tot al hospital performance. Indicators are powerful instruments for this purpose. They reliably reflect clinical outcome, physicians' and nurse s' activities, administration and can be regarded as instruments for g eneral hospital performance in otorhinolaryngology. We describe the pr ocess of definition, development and application of quality indicators for measuring quality in health care. Furthermore, we present a criti cal overview of selected indicators in otorhinolaryngology, general me dical indicators and indicators concerning administrative problems. Be cause of current developments in German health care the application of quality assurance methods similar to the system of indicators present ed is strongly recommended.