New editor for a quality journal.

Abstract

Starting with the third issue of 2004, I will have the pleasure and the honour of taking over the editorial responsibility for the International Journal for Quality in Health Care . In fact, those of you who have submitted papers recently to the Journal may have noticed that manuscript assessments have been handled by the new editorial office as of December 2003, when the Journal’s online submission system became operational. Let me begin by thanking the International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) for entrusting me with its scientific journal, and Dr Heather Palmer, who has edited this journal for the past ten years, for handing over a superb vessel for the scientific ideas of researchers worldwide who strive to improve health care. The handover of the editorial responsibilities was made particularly pleasurable by the joint efforts of Dr Palmer, Ms Morag Teek, the current managing editor, Mrs Lee Tregloan, Chief Executive Officer of ISQua, Dr David Ballard, ISQua board member in charge of publications, MrsMandy Hill, editor at Oxford University Press, and all members of the Journal’s Editorial Committee. I am currently head of the Quality of Care Unit at Geneva University Hospitals, and professor of health services evaluation at the Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva (Switzerland). Rather than going into unnecessary detail of my past or current work, I will submit here my Top Five achievements, related to the role of editor of the Journal . 1. I know a lot about poor quality in clinical care, in good measure through acts of …