[Quality assurance in nursing in Finnish health care organizations]

The purpose of this study is to describe the present situation in quality assurance in nursing in Finnish hospitals and health centers. The data was collected by questionnaires from the nurse leaders in 20 hospitals and in 28 health centers around Finland during the autumn 1987 and spring 1988. They were asked what has been done in their organizations in quality assurance in nursing; methods, areas, co-operators and problems they faced in their quality assurance programmes. Quality assurance in nursing is in the beginning. The nurses are discussing about the concepts of quality, quality assessment, quality assurance and measurements of quality in nursing. In 67% of organizations belonging to this study the nurses have begun to write the standards and criterias in nursing practice. Only in one hospital and in one health center nurses had measured the quality of nursing with some method.