The European Praxisassessment is a quality management system, which supports a continuous quality process in medical practices. It is conceived to consider the specifically house-medical function and to understand practice as "„learning system "“. EPA is a process orientated square meter system aligned at the Demingkreis particularly for established physicians and based, in contrast to other systems, not on a square meter manual, but on indicators. With these indicators it concerns measurable sizes, which permit, to characterize an actual condition and to formulate an objective.

Emergence

The original core of the European Praxisassessments (EPA) is a collection of indicators and instruments, which substantial quality relevant characteristics of an established medical practice are to describe. These developed in (2000-2005) a development and a validating process of several years in co-operation of different medical faculties and practical men.

The international cooperation in the development phase supported by the Bertelsmann donation in After publication of the first version of the indicators the developers in "„the TOPAS Europe Association "“united, in order to update the indicators and instruments regularly. Beyond that research projects are to be initiated, in order to measure the effectiveness of quality-promoting interventions and the meaning of the health-political basic conditions on basis of the system.

Practical conversion

The connection of the conversion is different in the individual countries: While the EPA indicators and instruments in the Netherlands find as a part of the RH accreditation system for established physicians use, they are used in Germany as part of a quality management system for established medical practices. For this the AQUA institute responsible for the conversion to Germany developed additional elements (on-line Benchmarking, Workshops, conversion assistance), which are to help to use the EPA indicators for the structure of an facility-internal quality management system. The quality management guideline contract-medical supply common federal committee gives the standards, according to which a medical practice can be examined and certified in Germany. It is open itself the physicians, for one of the offered square meter systems such as DIN ISO, KTQ, to decide EFQM or evenly EPA.

EPA international

Under the direction of Professor R. Grol (WOK, NL) the following institutions in the research and development took part in the context of the European Practice Assessment Study (EPA):

• Centre for quality OF Care Research (WOK), University OF Nijmegen/University Maastricht (NL)
• AQUA institutes on Applied quality Improvement and Research in Health Care, Goettingen (D)
• Department OF gene. Pract., University OF Wales college OF Medicine, Cardiff (UK)
• National Primary Care Research and development Centre NPCRDC, Manchester (UK)
• ANAES, Paris (F)
• swisspep institutes for quality and Research in Healthcare, Berne (CH)
• Flemish of institutes OF general Practice WWVH, Antwerp (B)

Literature

• Grol R, Dautzenberg M, Brinkmann H: Quality management in Primary Care. European Practice Assessment, publishing house Bertelsmann donation, 2004, ISBN 3-8920-4790-1
• Gerlach of FM: Quality circle in hospital and practice; A chance for the medicine Stuttgart, Thieme publishing house 2001 ISBN 3-1312-5891-8
• Bahrs O, Gerlach of FM, Szecsenyi J, Andres E (Hrsg.): Medical quality circles. Manual for the physician in practice and hospital 4. revised and extended edition. Dt. physician publishing house, Cologne 2001 ISBN 3-7691-0340-8
• Bensing J, Larsson U, Szecsenyi J (Eds.): Doctor patient communication and the quality OF care Netherlands of institutes OF Primary Health Care (NIVEL), practice in general, Utrecht 1998
• Szecsenyi J, Gerlach of FM (Hrsg.): Conditions and future of the quality assurance in the general medicine. National and international perspectives Hippokrates publishing house, Stuttgart 1995 ISBN 3-7773-1199-5

Other quality management systems

Similar systems developed of

• EFQM European Foundation for quality management
• KTQ co-operation for transparency and quality in the health service
• DIN EN ISO 9000 quality management standard

Articles in category "European Praxisassessment"

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Related Websites

We found here 2 related websites.

• EGPRW National Links Directory
  European Practice Assessment in Germany http://www.europaeisches-praxisassessment. de/1/start.php Error Reporting and Learning System for General ...


• EGPRW National Links Directory
  European Practice Assessment in Germany http://www.europaeisches-praxisassessment. de/1/start.php Error Reporting and Learning System for General ...