
To support the assessment of standards and indicators, a self-assessment tool for hospitals has been developed. Self-assessment is a process by which all professionals in a healthcare organization carry out their own quality evaluation against a set of standards. It is based on the philosophy of continuous quality improvement, the identification of quality improvement potential, the development of an action plan, implementation and subsequent evaluation. Self-assessment has to be clearly distinguished from external evaluation.
Hospitals within the WHO Health Promoting Hospitals network and other hospitals are encouraged to use the self-assessment tool presented in this document to improve health promotion activities and to contribute to continuous quality improvement.