Abstract:

The concept of assuring the quality of medical services appeared from the citizens’ need, acting as patients, to trust the capacity of medical units to assure them services that come to their expectations. There are huge differences as far as medical care is concerned between EU member states that are generated by a myriad of factors, with economic development being one of the most important. Taking into account that Romania is among the last 5 countries in Europe as far as quality of medical services is concerned, the authors consider it is worth analyzing the current state of things in this field. The main themes of the article refer to the dimensions of quality assurance for medical services, the main coordinates for quality policy, assuring the standards in the field as they are present in specialty books and in the law that are in force today. The issues presented here are complex and the authors consider it is worth discussing them from the point of view of the beneficiaries. The comments are based on a study – “The barometer of health services” – carried out in 2007 by the Center for policies and health in Bucharest. The conclusions after analyzing the study allowed the authors to draft the framework from the citizens’ perspective for the system referring to the quality of medical services.