[Quality assurance in Norwegian somatic hospitals]

In 1990, 70 Norwegian hospitals were mailed a questionnaire asking about quality assurance (QA) activities in the departments of internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology/obstetrics and pediatrics. Responses from 173 departments at 58 hospitals showed a marked interest in improving quality and quality assurance. However, few departments had implemented QA to any noticeable extent in their clinical practices. There were few differences between surgical and non-surgical departments. Only 30% of the respondents had established routines aimed at ensuring complete medical records. 47% had not established committees to record and evaluate accidents, or report hazards to patients, in spite of the fact that only 5% assumed QA was of little usefulness. In 1990, little time was spent on specific QA activities; the most common estimate was one hour per week. In our estimate, full QA in clinical department would require 2-5% of the total contribution of work.