European nurses take lead in quality assurance

In Europe patients are increasingly entering the healthcare debate, demanding explanations and questioning medical practice and clinical nursing traditions, at a time when human and financial resources are short and the relevancy of standard setting and quality assurance activities are being questioned. Working on heavily loaded units, nurses may feel tempted to dismiss the need for systematic evaluation of their work. However, quality assurance may be the way to empower nurses, but only if done collectively.