[National and international sources for clinical quality indicators]

High quality healthcare necessitates taking appropriate steps to promote quality. One of the major tools used to promote quality in healthcare is clinical quality indicators. This paper briefly reviews major organizations dealing with quality indicators, in primary care as well as hospital medicine, in Israel and worldwide. This review includes international and national organizations, including organizations dedicated to quality indicators in nursing and pharmacy. Major organizations active in developing quality indicators have detailed Internet websites that allow the reader to learn about the indicator set they use. These websites could be used to develop new indicators for community and hospital medicine in Israel. The review indicates the worldwide achievements in promoting quality in health, and shows that clinical quality indicators are a major component in clinical quality improvement in many countries.