Certification in surgical oncology. Relevance for the choice of hospital for treatment

Increasing requirements in quality management are leading to a rising number of certifications in the healthcare system. The certification of an institution should lead to this institution being chosen for treatment. This study was carried out to evaluate this statement for surgical oncology. A questionnaire was developed with which 100 patients, 40 general practitioners and 20 heads of oncology departments were surveyed with respect to the reasons for choosing a specific institution for oncological surgery. Of the patients 40 % followed the recommendations of their general practitioner while only 6 % considered certification as being relevant although 50 % believed certification was most important for their practitioner when choosing the surgical institution. Personal acquaintances were paramount for the choice of institution for 38.1 % of private practitioners, whereas none of the interviewees claimed that certification had had an influence. Of the heads of department 53.8 % answered that certification was irrelevant when referring a patient to another hospital. Despite widespread certification of surgical departments, patients, practitioners and heads of departments still rely on recommendations or personal experiences when choosing an institution for surgical oncology. The return rate of 16.4 % (41 received out of 250 questionnaires sent out) for practitioners shows the lack of interest in certification although 50 % of patients believed that the referral was based on this. Certification in surgical oncology has not yet been able to achieve the desired position as a strong quality factor showing that certification has not fulfilled one of the major goals and only plays an insignificant role in patient recruitment via referrals.