[Sore throat patients as the topic of a general practice quality circle. Determination and development of a practice guideline. Quality Assurance Study group for General Medicine].
The present paper describes the institutionalization of a general practitioners' quality circle and the development of management guidelines for the treatment of patients with sore throat. Doctors participating: An invitation to attend an "information meeting" on the subject quality control and a quality circle sent to 200 general practitioners and internists, evoked a response by 18 physicians, ten of whom participated in the first meeting of the quality circle. Practical procedure: Stocktaking of the procedure in the doctor's office on the basis of a documentation questionnaire, the discussion of a video of the counselling of a patient with a sore throat, interviews with patients and the personal experience of the participating physicians was compared with a current analysis of the literature. The results of the comparison were taken as a basis for the development of management guidelines following the Dutch NHG Standard (Nederlands-Huisartsen-Genootschap-Standarden).


CONCLUSIONS
A wide variation was found in the treatment offered to patients with sore throats in the doctor's office. Deviation from text book information does not indicate a priori any quality deficit in the GP's practice. With respect to the management guideline worked out, it was agreed that in the individual case, a wellfounded deviation can be justified.
Szecsenyi
J
J
MPH Abteilung Allgemeinmedizin, Universität Göttingen.
Bär
H
H
Claus
E
E
Hecke
H
H
Kendoff
A
A
Münch
A
A
Rühling
A
A
Stöhr
G
G
Theil
P
P
Schmidberger
I
I
D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D008332:Management Quality Circles; D010612:Pharyngitis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care
Halsschmerzpatienten als Thema eines hausärztlichen Qualitätszirkels.Bestandsaufnahme und Erarbeitung einer Handlungsleitlinie.