[The human dimension of health care through the application of the principles of complete quality of care].

Quality of care is the property of a service when it is an adequate response to a good defined need at an effort all parties are satisfied with. Some aspects of this complex definition are discussed in detail. To measure quality some absolute and relative criteria are needed. A systematic and integrated quality control assures a dynamic process of quality corrections. Integral quality management as developed in the industry can be implemented in medicine with only some minor corrections in the ethical field. Methods for quality incentives as audits, certifications and quality circles are briefly discussed.