EFFECTIVENESS OF QUALITY ASSURANCE COMMITTEES IN A UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Several groups are developing quality assurance activities in the University Hospital Maastricht, The Netherlands. The coordination of these groups to establish a coherent quality system has been set up as follows. The Boa rd for Quality, set up by the Board of Governors in 1990 is constituted by representatives from medical, nursing, education and research departments. This board is in charge of coordinating the activities of quality assurance committees. The Board for Quality conducted a survey to collect information for assessing the extent to which these committees influence the quality of care. A questionnaire was filled in by all members of each committee (n=162). Several persons participated in more than one committee (121 persons in total), with 82 respondents. After the analysis of results, the chairman and secretary of each committee were interviewed to discuss results. Means to improve the performance of these committees were indicated by the survey, and implemented where necessary. In most cases the activities of the committees proved to be relevant to the quality of care. The survey was useful as a monitoring tool and feedback-mechanism for committees to control their activities.