Documentation is key to quality assurance (QA): Data must be complete, plau
sible, and comparable, and then analyzed to implement corrective measures.
Important factors are: qualification of care-providing staff, equipment and
implants available (structural quality), effective scheduling of operation
s and therapy management (process quality), and patient status monitoring (
outcome quality). The primary aim is to reveal deficits in process quality
and develop and implement improvements in care. QA does not aim at exposing
individual mistakes or flawed techniques; rather it is designed to analyze
processes and treatments and implement specific solutions. An evaluation p
rofile with the key quality indicators and a QA guideline is presented. A s
urvey conducted in Germany Austria, and Switzerland revealed: (1) up to 12-
month waiting period for surgery in 6%, (2) only 40% written instructions,
(3) data mostly written by hand, (4) differences in surgery planning and us
e of prosthesis passport, (6) inconsistent data analysis, (7) corrective me
asures rarely implemented.