[Local groups as a tool for quality assurance of community health services]. / Lokale grupper som verktøy for kvalitetssikring i kommunehelsetjenesten.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess the use of local interprofessional or audit groups as a tool of quality enhancement. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty-six doctors, physiotherapists and nurses attended nine local interprofessional groups. The aim was to improve the quality of each professional's practice and to improve communication between the professions. RESULTS: The groups had a total of 62 meetings with each professional attending on average 5.7 meetings. All groups initiated quality enhancement projects. Initially the groups were very active and showed great initiative, but there were few final results. However, many groups reported improved communication and cooperation between the participating professionals. INTERPRETATION: The experience from this project may be summarised as follows: The professionals within one and the same group should have more or less the same background and specialty. We recommend caution with organising interprofessional groups unless their participants work in the same practice. Interprofessional groups should spend adequate time for the members to get to know each other, and they should be guided by an experienced leader.

[Significant medical quality concepts in a clinical context]. / Sentrale medisinske kvalitetsbegreper i en klinisk sammenheng.

For centuries, doctors have been working continuously on improving clinical practice, but there has not been the same focus on improving the organization of health care. Many doctors still believe that quality improvement only applies to medical practice. This is no longer so. Present day medical quality improvement includes both clinical practice and the health care system. The principles relating to quality systems describe the strategies and practical accomplishment of changes to improve the quality of care. These common principles should be applied to clinical practice, to how the systems work and to interpersonal relationships in health care. Norwegian medical quality assessment is encountering problems with language and definitions. A common understanding and use of standard terms is still lacking. This may be one reason why the medical profession is still unfamiliar with quality assessment as a method for the continuous improvement of health care. Using a clinical example, this article discusses the understanding and use of five important terms in quality assessment: quality, clinical guidelines, indicators, criteria, and standards.

[Which medical quality concepts should be used in Norway? Some significant quality concepts with definitions, synonyms and analogues English terms]. / Hvilke medisinske kvalitetsbegreper bør vi bruke i Norge? Noen sentrale kvalitetsbegreper, med definisjoner, synonymer og analoge engelske uttrykk.

The terminology for quality in medical practice is over-complex, confusing and often applied indiscriminately. Such terms are meant to contribute to the understanding of medical performance and to be used as tools for its improvement. In order to be able to understand each other and to perform quality assessment a set of comprehensible terms and concise definitions of those terms is needed. This article defines and discusses in alphabetical order some of the most important Norwegian medical quality terms, giving the corresponding expressions in English. The aim of the authors is to create a Norwegian reference for medical quality terminology, modified to conform with international literature. This is a continuous process, as are other areas of quality assessment, and for the present time we recommend that these definitions be used as standard terminology for Norwegian medical quality assessment.

[Local meeting series--a model for continuing education of the general practice staff]. / Lokale møteserier--en modell for etterutdanning av medarbeidere i allmennpraksis.

During the period January 1987 to June 1990 28 educational afternoon meetings were held for the office staff and nurses in general practice in Bodø, as well as for the nurses in the Bodø emergency clinic/service. Office staff and nurses in the occupational health service were also invited, bringing the number up to 42. On average 40.0% of the invited persons attended the meetings. Each meeting lasted 2 hours. The number attending the last meetings was so few that the series was discontinued. However, an initiative has been taken recently to reassume the series.

[Uplifting health education]. / Forfriskende helseopplysning.

Health education does not always lead to a change in behavior. This may be because traditional health education often focuses on disease instead of on positive values. Therefore, the new term refreshment is now being used to describe health-promoting activities. Creative medicine refers to all positive renewal which improves people's health.

[Reference groups as a form of training in general practice]. / Referansegrupper som arbeidsform i allmennmedisin.

In 1985 the first "reference groups" were established within the Norwegian College of General Practitioners. Today there are 20 such groups, with a total of 117 members. The reports of these groups have been studied in order to obtain a picture of how they are organized, how and how often they meet, their aims, and what they produce. The reference groups represent a unique way of studying which seems to produce substantial results in the form of books, booklets, articles, courses and know-how within different fields of Norwegian general medicine.