Quality assurance. A new role for the hospital epidemiologist

Quality assurance may be viewed as a method for the surveillance of healthcare provided in hospitals and other settings. The processes involved in quality assurance are in many ways analogous to the concepts and techniques that comprise the discipline of epidemiology. As yet, there has been little interaction between these specialty areas, and the lack of recognition of their relevance to one another is exemplified by the fact that hospital epidemiologists are rarely called upon to assist in the planning and operation of quality assurance programs. This loss of opportunity may be remedied by the inclusion of quality assurance methodology in the training of epidemiologists, and the introduction of certain epidemiologic concepts and methods into the quality assurance curricula. The intersection of these two disciplines will enlarge the scope of both and foster advances in theory and practice in this field.