Quality assurance of dialysis treatments and pediatric cardiac surgery

The Federal Joint Committee (G-BA) has commissioned the BQS Institute for Quality & Patient Safety GmbH to evaluate the quality assurance guidelines for dialysis and pediatric cardiac surgery. The aim is to obtain comprehensive and robust information on the implementation of the quality assurance measures and the effects on the care structures. Based on the evaluation reports, which will be available in 2020, the G-BA will discuss the further development of the guidelines.

"According to § 136d SGB V, the G-BA is obliged to evaluate and further develop its quality assurance guidelines and decisions; after all, the principle "Plan - Do - Check - Act" also applies to ourselves, emphasized Dr. Regina Klakow-Franck, impartial member of the G-BA and chair of the Quality Assurance Subcommittee. "A systematic evaluation of which quality improvement potentials have been exhausted, but which may not yet have been, is a basic prerequisite for continuous, patient-oriented further development of our guidelines. In the future, quality assurance of dialysis should not only focus on the question of whether the dialysis procedure is performed correctly, but also on the long-term results achieved for patients, also in comparison to early or late kidney transplantation. There is also a need for further development of the guideline on pediatric cardiac surgery. For example, because children with congenital heart defects are becoming older and older thanks to quality-assured medical care, but follow-up or long-term care in adulthood is not ensured."

On December 17, 2015, the G-BA decided to commission the evaluation of the guideline on pediatric cardiac surgery and the quality assurance guideline on dialysis by means of a Europe-wide award procedure. The methodological framework of the contract is the evaluation framework concept of the BQS Institute from July 2013.

Guideline for assuring the quality of dialysis treatments

Since 2006, there has been a topic-specific quality assurance guideline for dialysis, the Guideline for Assuring the Quality of Dialysis Treatments (QSD-RL). The guideline regulates the details of the spot checks to be performed by the associations of SHI-accredited physicians as well as the obligation of the more than 700 dialysis facilities nationwide to participate in a feedback system for self-monitoring (benchmarking) as a cross-facility quality assurance measure. The aim of the QSD-RL is to ensure the quality of dialysis as a life-sustaining treatment method and to support a continuous quality improvement process. The G-BA publishes an annual summary report on the quality of dialysis treatments on its website.

Guideline on measures for quality assurance of cardiac surgical care in children and adolescents

Since 2010,the Directive on Quality Assurance Measures for Cardiac Surgery in Children and Adolescents (KiHe-RL) has regulated the minimum requirements for hospitals that wish to perform cardiac surgery on patients with congenital heart disease or heart disease acquired during childhood. The quality-assuring minimum requirements relate to the professional qualifications of the treating physicians and nursing staff as well as to the structure, organization and equipment of a hospital. The aim is to ensure that care is only provided in facilities with expertise and suitable infrastructure and that high-quality cardiac surgical care is guaranteed regardless of place of residence and socioeconomic situation.

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