Implementing a quality management system in dietetics for improving patient safety

Abstract

Background Providing quality, patient-centered nutrition care is the main priority of dieticians working in clinical settings. Within the last decades there was a development of numerous new fields of work for clinical dieticians, including enteral and parenteral nutrition as well as the challenge integrating current evidence-based findings into daily work. To ensure continuous improvement of ongoing processes, a quality management system is crucial. This systematic approach leads to high quality nutrition care and in further consequence patient safety. Therefore it was the aim of the Department of Dietetics and Applied Nutrition (University Hospital Graz) to implement a quality management system and the certification through an official accreditation organization (qualityaustria, ISO 9001:2008) [1].