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A quality assessment system: the search for validity
Author(s) -
Schoen MH
Publication year - 1989
Publication title -
journal of dental education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 68
eISSN - 1930-7837
pISSN - 0022-0337
DOI - 10.1002/j.0022-0337.1989.53.11.tb02367.x
Subject(s) - quality assurance , quality (philosophy) , presentation (obstetrics) , scale (ratio) , payment , external validity , computer science , field (mathematics) , dental care , psychology , medicine , operations management , external quality assessment , dentistry , engineering , social psychology , mathematics , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , world wide web , pure mathematics , radiology
Quality assessment and assurance should involve all of dentistry, not just third party payment plans. One evaluation system is described and a draft outline of guidelines for criteria and standards is presented. An important, and usually neglected, aspect of the use of the system is illustrated by the presentation of some quantitative data from the review of a dental care program. Concerns about the validity of various elements are discussed, together with the difficulty of establishing such validity. Nevertheless, there are indications that the system is able to distinguish among different levels of quality using a dichotomous scale. More research in the field is urged.