[The BAK/KBV/AWMF curriculum "Quality management for physicians": summary of three years of putting a practical program in a goal-oriented qualification].

Since 1996 a curriculum "Quality management for physicians" exists with a three-level training concept. Based on this, a purposeful course program has been developed by the Centre for Quality management in Public Health (ZQ), qualifying physicians for new professional roles as hospital quality managers. Up to December 1999 eight level I-, seven level II- and ten level III-courses have been performed in Hannover. After these three years of experience, the training concept has been evaluated by three approaches: 1. The evaluation of a standardized questionnaire shows a 90% achievement of course objectives, and that the concept is highly accepted--meanwhile by other professionals in health care as well; 2. The projects performed by participants as part of the course show the successful transfer into practice and a wide variety of applications and methodological aspects; 3. Standardized interviews of participants after several months (pilot project) concerning the practical experience, which were first performed as a pilot project, support continuous quality improvement of the training course. The revision of the curriculum in March 2000 will update the contents of the training program for actual needs--an important aspect due to the fact that quality management will play a central role in health care, and an up-coming model of quality assessment for German hospitals.