Evaluating the Quality of Medical Care

In this time of rapidly increasing interest in assessing the quality of medical care, many investigators, including myself, spend much time advocating their favorite method of evaluation. A refreshing and objective analysis of five methods is presented in this issue of the Journal by Brook and Appel in the Special Article, "Quality of Care Assessment: Choosing a method for peer review."In this study, the authors have collected data for the assessment of the quality of medical care provided to 296 patients with urinary-tract infection, hypertension or peptic ulcer. The assessment of quality was done by a team of physicians . . .