The idea
‘ EURO-QUAL’s mission is to support the orthodontic professional in Europe in improving quality of care ’
What
A strategy for the development of a European Quality Improvement System (QIS) in orthodontic care has been developed during the EURO-QUAL project from 1993 to 1999. During the first stage the basic prerequisites were developed. These served as the fundament for the general model of a QIS in (orthodontic) health care.
Who
Representatives of national orthodontic organisations, teaching institutes, patient's organisations, orthodontic industry, and insurance companies have created an accepted approach to quality in orthodontic care. These have been published during several international congresses, in orthodontic literature, and in 3 books.
Publications
Copies of these books can be ordered at IOS-Press, Nieuwe Hemweg 6B, 1013 BG Amsterdam, the Netherlands, fax: *31 20 620 3419 (www.iospress.nl).
Important documents
Guidelines
Policy Statements for Orthodontic Care in Europe are based on the outcome of the First European Consensus Meeting on Orthodontic Care, Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands, 17-18 March 1995.
The result
The collaborations and fruitful discussions have resulted in an extensive compilation of ideas, documents, and useful charts. All are available in the Euro-Qual books (see above).
Many of the results have been adopted by individual orthodontic practitioners. Several local and (inter)national projects use the results and have even further developed them to their needs. The final pay-off will be the increased quality of treatment for the patient.
More information
The old webpage of Euro-Qual