[ISO System 9000 or evaluation of the quality of medical care]

Evaluation of the quality of medical care began in Mexico in 1956. This was done by reviewing the clinical files of patients. In 1984, Donabedian introduced the Theory of Systems that evaluates structure, process and results, adopted as a base in the IMSS to develop the System of Integral Evaluation and Continuous Improvement of the Quality of the Medical Care, through the identification and solution of the problems that affect quality in medical care as well as the improvements of the inefficient processes or those with low quality. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care, European Foundation for Quality Management (ETQM) and International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) use a similar methodology in its evaluations. The ISO System (International Organization for Standardization) was created in 1947 to assure and to certify the quality of the production processes and to guarantee the quality of the products that were fabricated. In health institutions the ISO system is useful to certify the structure and organization, and it indicates that they are under conditions to assure the quality of medical care, but it does not guarantee that this must happen. On the other hand, faults in structure and organization may result in poor quality of care. We conclude that both systems are complementary, rather than exclusionary.