Teaching quality management in a nursing graduate program: a collaborative university-agency quality team

A graduate-level course in quality management has been developed through a partnership between the San Francisco State University Department of Nursing and over 80 clinical agencies. The course, required of all master's students and open to nurses in the community, combines the most current information and research in quality management with a major project conducted in a health care setting. This article describes the course objectives, content, and methods, as well as the positive outcomes for students and agencies. The partnership offers an innovative model for agency and university collaboration in the teaching and practice of quality management.