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The Implementation Of Quality Management

Systems In Hospitals: A Comparison

Between Three Countries

C Wagner, L Gulcsi, E Takacs and M Outinen

Address: 1Nivel, Netherlands institute for Health Services Research, The Netherlands,

2Department of Public Policy and Management, Budapest

University of Economic Sciences and Public Administration, Hungary, 3National Health

Insurance Fund Administration, Hungary and 4National

Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health STAKES, Finland

Email: C Wagner* - c.wagner@nivel.nl; L Gulcsi - lgulacsi@uni-corvinus.hu; E Takacs -Takacs.e@OEP.hu;

BMC Health Services Research 2006, 6:50 doi:10.1186/1472-6963-6-50

Received: 14 March 2005

Accepted: 11 April 2006

This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6963/6/50

2006 Wagner et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

Review

Background

Is the implementation of Quality Management (QM) in health care proceeding satisfactorily

and can national health care policies influence the implementation process? Policymakers and

researchers in a country need to know the answer to this question. Cross country comparisons

can reveal whether sufficient progress is being made and how this can be stimulated.

The objective of the study was to investigate agreement and disparities in the implementation

of QMS between The Netherlands, Hungary and Finland with respect to the evaluation model

used and the national policy strategy of the three countries.

Methods

The study has a cross sectional design, based on measurements in 2000. Empirical data about

QM-activities in hospitals were gathered by a self-administered questionnaire. The

questionnaires were answered by the directors of the hospitals or the quality coordinators.

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The analyses are based on data from 101 hospitals in the Netherlands, 116 hospitals in

Hungary and 59 hospitals in Finland.

Outcome measures are the developmental stage of the Quality Management System (QMS),

the development within five focal areas, and distinct QM-activities which were listed in the

questionnaire.

Results

A mean of 22 QM-activities per hospital was found in the Netherlands and Finland versus 20

QM-activities in Hungarian hospitals. Only a small number of hospitals has already

implemented a QMS (4% in The Netherlands,0% in Hungary and 3% in Finland). More

hospitals in the Netherlands are concentrating on quality documents, whereas Finnish

hospitals are concentrating on training in QM and guidelines. Cyclic quality improvement

activities have been developed in the three countries, but in most hospitals the results were

not used for improvements. All three countries pay hardly any attention to patient

participation.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates that the implementation of QM-activities can be measured at nationallevel and that differences between countries can be assessed. The hypothesis that

governmental legislation or financial reimbursement can stimulate the implementation of

QM-activities, more than voluntary recommendations, could not be confirmed. However, the

results show that specific obligations can stimulate the implementation of QM-activities more

than general, framework legislation.