Developing a unit based quality assurance program.

Monitoring nursing care standards in a routine, systematic way greatly enhances the ability to document quality nursing care to identify potential problem areas. The Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations recommends a ten step process for developing a relevant system for evaluating the quality of nursing care. This article outlines how these steps were used to develop and implement a system of monitoring and evaluation of nursing care which is conducted by staff nurses in a 24 bed cardiovascular intensive care unit.