gms | German Medical Science

Background and Purpose: Structural and process-related quality indicators have become increasingly important in the care sector and will be directly connected to the proceeds of hospitals. The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) therefore has released a directive (QM-RL) to the fundamental requirements of the quality management for all approved hospitals in 2016. Thus the aim of our study was to examine the state of care-related quality indicators in the university hospital munich to be able to make statements about the degree of fulfilment to assist the care executives and to find out which ones have an influence on the processes in direct patient care.

Methods: Structural and process-related quality indicators were assessed by using a pretested and adapted auditing questionnaire, that is used by TÜV certification authority. It includes ten basic and 95 quality items. Quantity and scores for all items were calculated and verified. The items were assigned to the categories of the QM-RL. Pearson correlation tables were calculated for all relevant categories and regression models were used to assess the effect of several structural quality indicators in care-related process quality criteria.

Results: Data originates from a baseline survey of 103 wards. The average fulfillment of quality items is 79.5 percent. There are strong correlations between several structural items like nursing education/training, emergency management, presence of described procedures, management of interfaces and categories related to patient safety outcomes. Furthermore there were several effects of specific structural items on care related process criteria.

Conclusions: Detailed structural quality criteria have been identified that directly affect care quality.