Introduction: Five different levels from professional to umbrella-organisation can be distinguished. In this study an inventory has been made of all quality-systems used in palliative care. The different quality-systems are coupled to the level of supply of palliative care.
Methods: First-dimension: Literature-search and document-analysis has been made to list the different quality-systems used in the Netherlands. Second-dimension: Five levels of supply of palliative care are distinguished: professional- team-professional group - organisation - umbrella organisation.
Third-dimension: Different aspects of palliatieve care Each of the qualitysystems (1) is coupled to one or more levels of palliative care supply (2) and aspects of palliative care (3) and presented in a three-dimensional cross-table. Within the ‘professional’- group a stratification is made to distinguish the various types of professionals in this heterogeneous group.
Results: The cross-table shows that some of the quality-systems are strictly coupled to one of the distinguished levels. Other systems are in use in more than one level. In a number of levels no quality-systems are in use or available.
Conclusion: The cross-table is a simple method to visualize the overlap and the lack of quality-systems on different levels of palliative care supply.