The RAF method of regulation, assessment, follow‐up and continuous improvement of quality of care – summary of a decade of applied research

A method for the regulation, assessment, follow‐up and continuous improvement of care in long‐term care institutions – the RAF method – was developed by a team of researchers at the JCD‐Brookdale Institute. It was tested in a five‐year experimental programme, implemented in the surveillance systems operated by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the Ministry of Health. The programme, which introduced major changes into the surveyors’ work practices, included workshops for the surveyors and collaboration between surveyors and researchers to solve problems which arose during the development phase of the programme. Based on the experimental programme’s success in identifying and correcting deficiencies in the care of residents in long‐term care institutions, the RAF method was implemented in Government regulatory systems on a regular basis, ationwide, beginning in 1993.