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Within the demonstration project "Quality Management in Hospitals" (DemoProQM), 44 hospitals, organised in ten collaborative project groups, were supported by the German Ministry of Health from 1998 to 2001 in their methods for implementing total quality management. Their activities were monitored and evaluated by a staff of scientists and experts in the field. The main intention of the DemoProQM project was the implementation of quality management with special attention to patients and staff concerns, including all professions, hierarchies and hospital units. The second objective was to show other hospitals successful methods of implementing quality management and to demonstrate its benefits with special regards to the aspects of quality, economy and competition. To achieve these aims, the participating hospitals created adequate quality management structures and defined a quality policy as well as quality goals. In quality improvement projects, interprofessional teams tried to achieve these quality goals using the well-known methods of quality management. The successes and problems experienced by the participating hospitals are reported below.