Développement d'un ensemble d'indicateurs relatifs à la prise en charge organisationnelle du cancer du sein.

ims: The objective of the study is to develop a set of quality indicators (QIs) measuring the process of care in breast cancer patients and allowing hospitals comparison. Procedure: The COMPAQH project has designed and tested a set of QIs, derived from clinical practice guidelines, in partnership with professional bodies. Eight QIs evaluating delays and organization, as well as different steps of the process of care, have been defined. Results: Test was performed on a panel of 60 volunteer hospitals. Large variations in practice were observed on all QIs, encouraging hospitals to promote quality improvement policies. Some indicators appear as strongly linked to the entire process of care of the patients. Conclusion: The nationwide implementation of these QIs is dependent on the organization of the process of care, making it difficult their generalization to all the institutions. The extension to the entire process of care should allow to include other items of the process and to evaluate their coordination in the entire pathway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]