Psychiatric occupational therapy service--quality assurance.

During the last few decades, quality assurance has been a central issue in the societies, both in, for example the industrial area and in healthcare. It is a tool to measure the outcomes of product or service provided. A review of the literature during the last 17 years with respect to quality assurance work in psychiatric occupational therapy indicates that few articles have been published in the area and that their scientific quality is questionable. The studies show many methodological shortcomings, which result in difficulty drawing any conclusion from the studies. The number of publications is also decreasing. Furthermore, a survey to investigate quality assurance work in psychiatric occupational therapy service shows that the occupational therapists do not work with quality assurance methods to a great extent. The methods they use most are interviews with patients and patient questionnaire. Both these methods require documentation in order to offer the patient a suitable service. Quality assurance work will be difficult to implement if no documentation is available. Documentation is central to communicating with other professions and with the client. This study points out that occupational therapists need to improve practice as well as research concerning quality assurance in order to ensure that they offer the patient a high-quality service.