Ärztliche Qualitätszirkel in der Gesundheitsförderung - Erfahrungen und Chancen für die Qualitätsdiskussion in der Gesundheitsförderung

Peer review groups are a voluntary form of internal quality control, in which the participating parties determine for themselves the criterion by which their work will be judged. Because they allow for a large variety of working contexts, peer review groups can be implemented and effective in situations where there is no consensus as to what binding 'standards' should be. This dissertation based on a project by order of the Federal center of health Education in Köln. Within the framework of this project approximately thirteen peer review groups have been initiated and observed in the health care area from 2000t to 2002. The peer review groups are working in different social areas, for example in industrial enterprises, public health departments, or in the self-help area. The dissertations goal is (1) to document the process of transferring the concept of the medical peer review group into the general health care and health promotion area, (2) to identify conceptual modifications that may be necessary, (3) to examine the conditions which allows to work with the concept in practice.In order to be able to fully integrate the different perspectives of the participants into the results, the accompanying research uses both quantitative and qualitative methodes (e.g. half-standardized questionnaires for the moderators and participants, minutes of the individual peer review group meetings, standardized instruments for appraising the group work, and self-appraisal questionnaires for the moderators and participants of every peer review group).The moderators' extensive experience from their various areas of specialization in the health care field represents an important resource for the implementation of the peer review groups. The predominantly heterogeneous nature of the field is mirrored in the interdisciplinary composition of half of our test peer review groups. An exciting and new form of cooperation developes in these peer review groups, which is expressed, for example, in the founding of a hospice organization.