Reflections on hospital quality assurance programs

Abstract

This paper reviews the concept of quality assurance (QA) as it applies to hospital programs. It does not pretend to be a thorough or scientific bibliographic review of the subject. Rather, the practical observations and reflections presented here are intended to demystify QA, show that it is not complicated, and demostrate that it is achivable in any hospital. The basis of QA are decribed in simple, nontechnical language so that hospital managers may gain a better understanding of the subject and increased confidence in implementing QA programs