It is all about quality

Interest in quality management has been increasing rapidly. Quality systems help to map the quality of training institutes systematically and to improve them. It is expected that this will enable to produce better medical professionals, ultimately yielding benefits for healthcare. This line of thought has led the Dutch GP training institutes to pay close attention to quality assurance. The first part of this thesis describes qualitative studies of the development, implementation and effect of the activities in this field pursued by the Dutch GP training institutes.
These studies are followed by the evaluation of two interventions intended to monitor and improve the performance of clinical trainers at the GP training institute.
The thesis concludes with a systematic review of the quality with which interventions in medical education are being described.
Three main themes emerged from these studies. First, togetherness would seem to be the leitmotif of this thesis. When developing and implementing interventions to improve medical education, it is important that participants feel involved with one another. Second, a key challenge is to integrate the proposed intervention into day-to-day activities. Third, to be able to exchange good practices, it is of particular importance to get to know one another (national) and, internationally it is of the utmost importance to strive towards a more uniform description of interventions in the literature.
We hope that this thesis will make a useful contribution to further improvement of the quality of medical education and hence ultimately of the care provided to patients.