title: A quality management project in Israeli navy primary care clinics.
abstract: The objective of this project was to establish a measurable process of continuous quality improvement of health care services in the Israeli naval primary care clinics. All navy clinics were surveyed at 6-month intervals. The quality of medical recording was evaluated, and instructive workshops were given on the matter. Real-time physician-patient interactions were evaluated, and immediate feedback was given to the examining physician. Complementary medical services were evaluated and steps toward improvement were taken. A total of 1043 medical records were examined. A general improvement in medical-record documentation (from a score of 6.0 +/- 2.5 to a score of 7.4 +/- 1.9, P < .001) was demonstrated during the first 3 years of the project. No significant change was noticed in the physician-patient interaction score. Complementary medical services improved from a score of 4.9 +/- 1.5 in 1994 to a score of 7.4 +/- 0.9 3 years later (P < .02). This project achieved a significant improvement in the quality of medical recording and of complementary medical services.
authors.affiliation: Israeli Defense Forces, Medical Corps, Israel.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Mankuta
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vinker
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Itzhak
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kaiserman
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Beiran
mesh_terms: D006302:Health Services Research; D006772:Hospitals, Military / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008485:Medical Audit; D009326:Naval Medicine / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*