[Outcome quality in vascular surgery]

For the assessment of outcome quality, the acquisition and evaluation of internal and external treatment data is necessary. Vascular surgery is characterized in main topics of treatment such as carotid stenoses, aortic aneurysms, peripheral arterial disease, and varicose veins by clearly defined outcome indicators. Nevertheless, the determination of the quality of outcome is difficult because of the differing standards.

For an external, comparative quality assurance, the quality assurance commission of the German Society for Vascular Surgery has established a program, "Quality Management for the carotid TEA and the BAA" according to section 137 SGB V, and has developed a questionnaire for recording the quality of treatment of varicose veins.

The evaluation of all the questionnaires submitted to an independent institute enables the participating departments to have a comprehensive evaluation of their own quality of outcome and provides a tool to compare it with defined quality levels (benchmarking).

For every physician, the perception of his own quality of outcome represents a fundamental requirement, which continues to gain importance within the context of future health policies.