title: [An outcome-oriented quality management strategy for the inpatient rehabilitation of orthopedic patients--towards an empirically based "best practice"].
abstract: This paper presents the development and testing of an outcome-oriented quality management system for the inpatient rehabilitation of orthopaedic patients, with a special focus on the indication of knee-replacement. On the level of outcomes we describe the development of appropriate indication-specific outcome indicators, capable of being used to rank the performance of hospitals. With regard to the process-quality of the empirical analysis of the rehabilitative-therapeutic services possibilities and limitations are shown. Furthermore an inkling of the shape that an expert-consent-based base of evidence for identifying best practice--arrived at by using primary empirical findings--might assume is presented. The procedure for establishing the latter offers a methodical approach toward continuous quality development of orthopaedic inpatient rehabilitation, one that is characterised by guidelines and performance transparency. Development potentials are recognised in the formal and the content quality of the therapeutic services.
authors.affiliation: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. birte.dohnke@rz.hu-berlin.de
authors.forename: Birte
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Dohnke
authors.forename: Jörg-Rüdiger
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Blau
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.forename: Werner
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Müller-Fahrnow
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000592:standards*; D016896:Treatment Outcome