title: [Quality management in a public health agency].
abstract: This article describes the introduction of quality improvement actions in a public health organization. After ISO 17025 accreditation, which was legally mandated, was granted to the official control laboratory, the management decided to expand a quality policy in 2003, through a series of actions based on process analysis and proposals for improvement, further definition of standard operating procedures, exploration of users' opinions, the creation of improvement groups, and external audits or certification. The organizational response to these initiatives was diverse. External audit or certification of services seems to be the most powerful tool for change. Costing studies showed that up to 75% of the total expenditure of the agency in 2010 was spent on public health services subject to external audit or certification.
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona, España. jrvillal@aspb.cat
authors.forename: Joan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Villalbí
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ballestín
authors.forename: Conrad
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Casas
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Subirana
mesh_terms: D009938:Organizations / Q000592:standards*; D011634:Public Health; D058996:Quality Improvement; D013030:Spain