Quality management system certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 9001:2015
In medical settings, quality and safety are particularly important. This not only involves proper hygiene and smooth procedures but also includes caring for our patients’ physical and mental needs. Implementing an effective quality management system is a sensible way to fulfil these complex requirements.
The ISO 9001 standard forms the basis for the most well-known and widely used quality management system. The standard formulates what companies can and should do to meet their customers’ quality requirements.
Quality management in healthcare settings is regulated by the provisions of the German Security Code Book V, Section 137. The certification process focuses on observing and assessing core organisational processes at the Martini-Klinik. The aim is to evaluate how general quality requirements are connected with organisation-specific requirements.
The benefits of a QM system based on ISO 9001 are:
- More effective process flows in diagnostics, treatment and aftercare
- Optimised organisational structures and workflows at the Martini-Klinik
- Reduced risks and fewer mistakes
- Improvements in treatment quality
The Martini-Klinik implemented a quality management system upon its establishment and has had it certified since 2006.
German Cancer Society (DKG)
The German Cancer Society operates a certification system with the aim of improving the care of oncology patients and enabling them to access high-quality treatment in every phase of their illness. The requirements are collated in questionnaires and data sheets with quality indicators, which are drawn up and regularly updated by interdisciplinary committees. Medical guidelines play a fundamental role in the definition of these quality indicators.
Certified centres are certified networks of inpatient and outpatient institutions characterised by close collaboration between all disciplines involved in treatment of cancer patients. This includes surgeons, radio-oncologists, pathologists, experts in drug therapy and other specialist disciplines as well as oncological nurses, psycho-oncologists and welfare workers.
The Martini-Klinik became a certified prostate cancer centre in 2007. This involves annual audits to demonstrate that we meet the specialist requirements for treating a tumour disease and operate an established quality management system (DIN ISO 9001 – see below).
In 2021, the Martini-Klinik also became part of the Urological Oncology Centre of the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) as a specialist prostate carcinoma centre. This means that, in addition to specialising in the prostate, we also have specialism in the urinary bladder and kidneys.
ICHOM
ICHOM stands for International Consortium for Health Outcome Measurements, an organisation based in Boston, MA, USA. Together with patients, doctors and other experts in the field, ICHOM has developed the tools needed to measure patient-reported outcomes. This includes a standardised questionnaire that patients complete themselves. These standard sets are then used to measure subjective endpoints of treatments in relation to patients’ perceived quality of life. This makes it possible to compare outcomes for patients with the same disease.
The doctors at the Martini-Klinik have helped to develop these standard sets for localised and advanced prostate carcinoma and use them for their patients.
Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study
The Martini-Klinik is a pioneer of methods for measuring the quality of treatment outcomes. The Prostate Cancer Outcomes (PCO) study is facilitating international comparisons of this data for the first time.
The PCO study aims to improve patient-reported outcomes for prostate carcinoma (PCa) and establish comparisons between prostate cancer centres certified by the German Cancer Society (DKG). It collects data on variables specified in the ICHOM standard set as well as a selection of other socio-demographic, disease-specific and treatment-specific indicators from patients with localised prostate cancer.
In the PCO study, the patient-reported outcomes of PCa focus on the five major symptoms and functional limitations caused by the disease and its treatment, namely: incontinence, irritative/obstructive symptoms, gastrointestinal symptoms, sexuality and vitality.
The report contains results from over 100 DKG-certified prostate cancer centres, with almost 30,000 patients taking part in the study.
PCO study at the Martini-Klinik<br/> Website of the PCO study<br/> Website of the Movember movement
European Prostate Epicenter
The Martini-Klinik is the world’s largest prostate cancer centre for robotic-assisted surgical systems and an international training centre for surgeons in this field.
Your contact person
Anke Renter
Coordinator research and studies