[Management by integrated care processes]

Processes management has a positive effect in both reducing the variability of clinical practice, and increasing therapeutic effectiveness and patients' satisfaction. In this article the different types of processes and the methods used to identify and define processes and subprocesses are described. The management by processes requires to combine information of patients' needs and expectations, and the recent evidence, describing the activities' sequence that the professionals would realize in order to obtain a positive outcome. Defining quality criteria of clinical practice and monitoring if standards are achieved are critical to obtain other of its characteristic: continuous improvement (PDCA cycle). The introduction of total quality ideas in the healthcare organizations in recent years has yielded the dissemination of the advantages of management processes in health care sector.