Z Arztl Fortbild Qualitatssich. 2000 Oct; 94(9): 751-7.

[Quality management and research. A pragmatic concept for evaluation and optimization of complementary medicine within the framework of hospital and practitioner relations]

Melchart D, Weidenhammer W, Thorm�hlen J, Gehring T, Saller R.

Dept. Innere Medizin, Abt. Naturheilkunde, Universit�tsspital Z�rich. [email protected]

Objective of the concept "Quality Management and Research" is to evaluate and optimize Complementary Medicine (CM) within everyday-practice in a network of hospitals and practitioners. In a step by step-strategy the concept should give information about quality on the levels of structure, process and outcome for and about patients and providers. Therefore special profiles of quality should be determined. In a next step preinterventionally defined goals of therapies have to be proofed for being achieved at admission or at the end of the intervention. To enable decision-making for patients, physicians and insurance companies profiles of quality should be compared within the specialized network and/or with mainstream providers. Asking for high evidence it is necessary to conduct randomized controlled trials (RCTs). A main interest of the program is to integrate the concept into routine practice of the network and to build up a data-collection-centre at the university in order to improve the providing system and to create new tools for practice-based medical research.