[Quality management in the interdisciplinary specialty hospital]

The aim of quality management in rheumatology is to improve care and outcome in patients with rheumatic diseases. This can be achieved by means of prospective long-term observation of the patient with regular documentation of clinical, radiological, biochemical and functional data using certain validated scoring methods (DAS, radiological score, ADL score Hanover or Health assessment questionnaire, SF36, etc.). Long-term observation and documentation including radiographs have been performed in the rheumatology hospital in Ratingen for 20 years without even knowing the term quality management. Quality management in a hospital for rheumatic diseases begins with certain structural prerequisites: possibility of direct admission of a patient to the hospital by the family physician, outpatient clinic to investigate and to follow patients over a long period of time, multidisciplinary team with specialists in rheumatology, orthopedic surgery, physiotherapy, ergotherapy, special care, psychological, and social services, close cooperation with specialists in neurology, dermatology, ophthalmology, etc., department of radiology, special laboratory, facilities for internal diagnostic and treatment. The hospital needs a training program for the qualification of rheumatologists and orthopaedic surgeons. The hospital staff should closely cooperate with the doctors in private practice who admit patients and should continuously support patient organizations. The quality of outcome is influenced by the process quality which depends on the following factors: selection, training and motivation of the hospital staff; supervision of clinical assessment and documentation by senior physicians, daily x-ray demonstrations and case reports, interdisciplinary case demonstrations at least every week in addition to daily consultation, team reports, regular education including review of actual literature for physicians, education programs exchanging knowledge with physiotherapists and nurses, and regular education programs for patients. Process quality can only be achieved by an interdisciplinary approach and regular communication between all participants including the patient, whose opinion must be noted and regarded. As far as possible, the same doctor who treats the patient in the hospital should follow her/him in the outpatient clinic. The quality of outcome can be improved by regular reinvestigation of the patient with control of medication, side effects, efficacy, documentation of clinical, biochemical, radiological, and functional data. Decisions for further treatment have to be based on these follow-up data. A standardized follow up and documentation system for all rheumatology units with prompt feedback could definitely improve the quality of rheumatologic care in Germany.