[Italy's Slow Medicine: a new paradigm in medicine].

Italy's Slow Medicine was founded in 2011 as a movement aimed to promote processes of care based on appropriateness, but within a relation of listening, dialogue and decision sharing with the patient. The mission of Slow Medicine is synthetized by three key words: measured, because it acts with moderation, gradually and without waste; respectful, because it is careful in preserving the dignity and values of each person; and equitable, because it is committed to ensuring access to appropriate care for all. In a short time, the association spreads at national and international level, gathering the needs of change of a growing number of health professionals, patients and citizens, committed to manage health problems with a new cultural and methodological paradigm.

Quality for home palliative care: an Italian metropolitan multicentre JCI-certified model.

Background: Assessing the quality of care and service delivery through the analysis of ad hoc indicators is a relevant process for quality monitoring and improvement with a view to providing patients, the community and administrators alike with appropriate elements of evaluation. This paper describes the key results of a certification process based on the Joint Commission International (JCI) criteria for the home hospitalisation model implemented by the palliative care units of seven Milan hospitals for terminally ill patients with cancer.

Methods: In 2006, the interhospital working team implemented a certification project based on the JCI Disease or Condition-Specific Care (DSCS) programme.

Quality for home palliative care: an Italian metropolitan multicentre JCI-certified model.

Background: Assessing the quality of care and service delivery through the analysis of ad hoc indicators is a relevant process for quality monitoring and improvement with a view to providing patients, the community and administrators alike with appropriate elements of evaluation. This paper describes the key results of a certification process based on the Joint Commission International (JCI) criteria for the home hospitalisation model implemented by the palliative care units of seven Milan hospitals for terminally ill patients with cancer.

Methods: In 2006, the interhospital working team implemented a certification project based on the JCI Disease or Condition-Specific Care (DSCS) programme.

[The development of hospital performance].

Health care systems are going through a deep change due to a need to find new solutions and curb ever-growing health care costs. Such increases are caused by some important changes in the demand and offer of health care services. This study is meant to analyse hospital structures within the general field of health care services, their organizational changes as well as their capacity to quickly adapt to new technologies and needs.