Quality Assurance: Implementation in Nursing Practice

Ten psychiatric day hospitals for elderly people were surveyed in the UK′s northern region to try and establish the extent to which nurses were implementing quality assurance procedures. Based on a structured interview the results indicated that there was considerable implementation and success, including ready access to day services and high acceptability and effectiveness. Relatively little progress has been made in terms of evaluation, staff training and support. In general it is concluded that this small sample of psychiatric nurses has developed good practices in parallel with QA, rather than being guided or supported by the QA initiative. Implications are drawn for a more integrated approach to QA.