Professional standards: linking care, competence, and quality.

Professional standards are key to the success of nurses as health care evolves, new roles are created, and new practice settings established. They are the infrastructure beneath the development of institutional standards of care, competency-based education programs, and quality assurance programs. Using them to link these key components provides for consistency across practice settings and among practicing nurses within integrated delivery systems. They also serve as the foundation for consensus building for partnerships and interdisciplinary initiatives.