title: [Quality in health care].
abstract: Quality in health care is the basic requirement in each medical intervention based on good medical praxis and principles of medicine based on scientific evidence. However, health systems and medical personnel in health insitutions in Europe as well as other parts of the world are nowadays confronted with public requirements for better care and more quality in health system, less risks and undesirable outcomes of medical interventions. Based on recent results of investigations on sources for mistakes it was persumed that it might be the consequence of more complex technologies used in diagnosis and treatment, as well as shortage of time between new development and application in medical practice, the lack of information technologies needed for follow up of interventions, ageing of population and more chronicaly ill patients etc. Therefore, systematic approach in implementation of quality improvement programs is first priority for any health system which is oriented to patients needs and satisfaction. In this rewiev article the basic terms and methods used for quality improvement in health care is presented, including quality assessment, quality control and management of quality.
authors.affiliation: Hrvatska komora medicinskih biokemicara, Zagreb. astavljenic@hkmb.hr
authors.forename: Ana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stavljenić-Rukavina
mesh_terms: D017523:Croatia; D006801:Humans; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care