Introduction of diabetes passports involving both patients and professionals to improve hospital outpatient diabetes care.

Aim: To investigate whether a comprehensive strategy involving both patients and professionals, with the introduction of a diabetes passport as a key component, improves diabetes care.

Methods: The first 150 consecutive patients who visited their internist for a diabetes check up at the internal medicine outpatient departments at each of nine Dutch general hospitals were included in this 1 year clustered, randomised, controlled trial. Health care professionals attended an educational meeting about the use and dissemination of the diabetes passport which is a patient held record.

Stochastic league tables: an application to diabetes interventions in the Netherlands.

The aim of this paper is to discuss the use of stochastic league tables approach in cost-effectiveness analysis of diabetes interventions. It addresses the common grounds and differences with other methods of presenting uncertainty to decision-makers. This comparison uses the cost-effectiveness results of medical guidelines for Dutch diabetes type 2 patients in primary and secondary care.

The evaluation of the introduction of a quality management system: a process-oriented case study in a large rehabilitation hospital.

Objectives: So far, there is limited proof concerning the effects of the introduction of quality management systems (QMS) on organisational level. This study concerns the introduction of a QMS in a large rehabilitation hospital.

Methods: Using an observational framework, a process-analysis is performed.

Methodological considerations on the assessment of the implementation of quality management systems.

Quality management systems (QMS) can be considered as an emerging management technology in health care. It is as yet not common to perform assessment of such technology in order to obtain relevant information on the added value. In this paper the specific aspects of the assessment of a quality management system are explored and various designs are presented.

Glycosylated haemoglobins: biochemical evaluation and clinical utility.

A review is given of the biochemical background of the glycosylated haemoglobins, their methods of determination, and their clinical significance. Special attention is paid to the sample preparation. For all methods except the colorimetric TBA-method, the removal of the labile pre-HbA1c fraction is essential.