PRM Section and Board of UEMS

The Clinical Affairs Committee of the UEMS PRM Section deals with Quality of Care in our specialty practice.

The PRM Programme of Care is the working basis of our Quality Approach. A PRM PC is defined by the following elements:

• the epidemiological needs and scientific evidence that support the programme design;
  
• the target population, with its inclusion and exclusion criteria;
  
• clearly-defined aims and goals, expressed in the terms of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF);
  
• a well-structured body of content, describing the programme timetable, potential phases, diagnosis and assessment tools (for initial, follow-up and discharge assessments), scheduled interventions (direct treatment and rehabilitation) and the exact role played by each programme participant;
  
• human resources and equipment, as well as appropriate team management procedures; and
  
• discharge criteria and a final report with recommendations for long-term patient follow-up.

The European Accreditation of PRM PC is the working method to reach this goal of improving our clinical practice throughout European countries. Ttwo important stages should be carefully considered:

• the elaboration and implementation of the Programme of Care, with special attention to the qualitative and quantitative description of the local context, the reasons for creating such a programme and the choices that had to be made based on the available resources;
  
• the assessment of the outcomes in a programme that is already stable organisationally. The difficulties encountered, the problems that had to be solved, and the pitfalls that should be avoided are also interesting to report. These factors can become the starting point for new programme developments, as is done in the Deming Wheel (Fig. 1).

Completing both these stages is not required before submitting a PRM-PC for European PRM Accreditation. In fact, if the process has been carefully managed, the first stage will elicit very useful information. Implementing the second stage doesn’t mean an extensive assessment of numerous parameters, which is likely to be incompatible with a normal daily practice.

European Accreditation is a friendly peer reviewing process. Reviewers will help you to describe your daily PRM clinical practice in a structured and valuable way. An oral presentation of your programme is possible during our twice-a-year workshops, before submitting a written description of your programme.

Accredited PRM PC will be displayed on this website as part of the Ebook on Quality of Care. Their authors will be encouraged to give papers about their programmes during UEMS PRM Quality of Care sessions in several European and National PRM congresses and to submit papers in the the European Journals of our specialty.

Dr Georges de Korvin, Chairman of Clinical Affairs