Abstract:
A central topic in oncology is the quest for improved quality insurance and quality optimization.
Focus of this thesis is the development of a verifiable quality assurance system and continuous quality optimization for breast cancer treatment. In particular, in the context of a breast cancer treatment process chain that incorporates diagnosis, therapy and follow-up care, the following aspects are considered: improved structural quality of treatment (interdisciplinary structures), improvement of process quality (adherence to standards), improvement of result quality (health-related quality of life).
To achieve this goal, the following concepts had to be developed as prerequisites in the context of a multi-step survey: definition of interfaces for the breast cancer treatment supply chain, specification of standardized procedures for diagnoses and therapy as guidance, analysis of the significance of multidisciplinarity, development of a database on the grounds of evidence-based medicine, enabling of a standard for the therapeutic centralization for breast cancer patients, verification of treatment quality using benchmarking and certification of therapeutic centers.
In parallel, in the context of a pilot project between the University Frauenklinik and general practitioners in the field, it was attempted to improve result quality by implementing a possibility of electronic interchange of diagnostic findings.
In addition, it was attempted to achieve more transparency by optimizing the integration of affected patients into the treatment process. To this end, a breast cancer file for each patient was implemented and evaluated in order to optimize treatment through improved patient satisfaction.
In summary, it can be said that for quality assurance of breast cancer treatment which leads to improved results, a structure is essential which can be established in either of the following: a multi- and interdisciplinary management in a quality-assured center, a regional treatment network, or in a breast cancer treatment center with a process chain according to (European) guidelines. Essential for all of these is that treatment personnel continually receives further training and that the quality management is verified by regular and independent audits.
The success of these quality assurance measures is ultimately measured using a well-structured documentation of the result quality.
In the context of a project an integrative structure for electronic documentation of formerly paper-based documentation was planned which can be used as the basis for process control of the breast cancer treatment process chain.