[The accreditation procedure: An external recognition of quality in public and private health centres in France. ]. / La rocedure d' accreditation: Une reconnaissance externe de la qualite dans les etablissements de sante publics et prives en france.

Since early 1990, the structures and financing of various health systems have been reformed. For the first time, some western Europe countries have admitted that quality insurance within the health system can become a governmental responsibility and, as in the past, simply the responsibility of the professionals and/or the health service administrators. During the last decade of the XXth century, pressure has gradually been increased for governments to become more involved in health system quality. This focus on quality was linked to human safety. In this historical perspective, the emergence of AIDS and the difficulty to control this epidemic, and the consequences of contamination by injection needles have probably played a part in this collective awareness. In this context, quality has become a major concern in Europe.

[A program of quality improvement in transfusion safety. Experience at Saint-Camille Hospital]. / Programme d'amélioration de la qualité en sécurité transfusionnelle. L'expérience de l'hôpital Saint-Camille.

A program of quality improvement of blood transfusion safety was carried out in St Camille Hospital after a call for tenders had been jointly issued by the French Ministry of Health and the French Agency for Medical Evaluation (ANDEM). The blood transfusion process was analysed and a diagnosis of the situation was performed. Improvement actions were then undertaken to control the blood transfusion process. They consisted in education programs, elaboration of procedures and documents such as a transfusion record and a transfusion manual. The effectiveness of the actions was measured using indicators. Such a quality improvement approach revealed to be a good method to manage the blood transfusion process and to improve safety. However, it requires people's involvement in the project, and rigorous project management.

[Renal leiomyoma. Apropos of a case]. / Léiomyome rénal. A propos d'un cas.

Leiomyoma of the kidney is a rare tumor, for which little investigational imaging data is available, and which is poorly characterized by histological methods. We are here concerned with one case that benefitted from an extensive radiological workup, and we provide a comparison with other cases mentioned in the literature.