Implementation of a quality system for the examination of occupational diseases.

A quality system in accordance with the principles of the ISO 9004-2 standard has been implemented at a department examining patients with occupational diseases. The quality system is the organizational structure needed to implement total quality management (TQM). The purpose of the system is to ensure that everyone is aware of the common quality objectives and knows how to achieve them. The quality system involves participation, training and guidelines and is based on customers' satisfaction and fluency of the activities. When the duration of the completed examinations was used as a measure of the fluency, this study demonstrated that TQM is feasible in health care. The fluency increased spontaneously due to increased awareness of rapidity as one of the quality characteristics and better understanding of the entire work process. This practical approach seems to be a good way to build up the basic quality and to motivate the personnel.