title: Quality of care assessment for breast cancer: how to measure benefits of prevention and therapy in oncology.
abstract: Over the last few years evaluation of quality of diagnostic and therapeutic care has become one of the most controversial and fastest growing fields of research in many areas of medicine. In this situation, oncology represents a model case as the conditions in which new therapeutic strategies are tested and implemented largely differ from routine practice, both in terms of availability of sophisticated technology and comparability of patient populations. The promising role of health care research for the understanding of factors through which research advances can be generalized to routine clinical practice has only recently being appreciated. From this point of view, the paper discusses the rationale and key findings of a multi-annual++ evaluation program on breast cancer care, underway in Italy since 1980. Special attention is given to how results (such as data on diagnostic delay or non-adherence to recommended treatment guidelines) can be used for the implementation of educational programs, controlled studies and ad hoc demonstration projects.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Liberati
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Fossati
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Torri
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies