User:Ulises Ruiz

Trained originally as paediatric surgeon, he has worked as clinician, medical researcher and teacher moving later on to hospital management, to proceed subsequently as health systems quality management trainer, member of health systems quality management international working groups as well as external auditor for quality and excellence management systems, both in Spain and in the US.

More recently, 1984 on, he has devoted mainly to quality management for health service and systems as Founding member of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua); Founding Member and Vice-Chair of the Service Division of the Spanish Association for Quality; Founding member and Chairman of the Healthcare and Education Divisions of the Spanish Association for Quality; Member of the National Council of the Spanish Association for Quality; Member of the Executive Committee of the Spanish Association for Quality.

For 8 years he was Director of the Total Quality Unit and Developer / Manager of the Total Quality Plan for the Spanish Health System, at the Spanish Ministry of Health and Consumer Affairs. The Plan was considered a useful document for the European health system being published as such by WHO-E (The Spanish Total Quality Assurance Programme, First Phase 1986-1990, EUR/ICP/HSR031-7977s).

Concurrently he did carry out Health Services Quality Management Research funded by the European Commission, D.G. XIII (Clinical and Financial Data for Healthcare Organisations ) and D.G. XII (Quality Assurance in European Hospitals)..

Along this period he did train health services professionals in Quality Management in Healthcare at the National School of Public Health; at the Spanish National School for Hospital Management; as WHO-E Temporary Advisor and Faculty for the WHO-E Training Programme on Quality Assurance in Health Services; and at the Complutense University of Madrid.

At present, as member of the University Institute for Health Services Assessment, his main activities involve teaching, training and quality management implementation as well as external auditing for quality management systems in health service organisations as Certified Quality Auditor for the European Organisation for Quality (EOQ).

His work has been published in books, clinical journals, research journals and quality management journals.

He speaks and writes fluently Spanish, English and French.