IN PURSUIT OF QUALITY BY VIABLE QUALITY ASSURANCE SYSTEM: THE CONTROLLERS' PERCEPTIONS
Abstract
Background: Patients, families and communities expect safe, competent and compassionatenursing care that has always been a core value of nursing. To meet these expectations, a valid and
reliable quality assurance (QA) system is crucial to ensure that nurse-graduates are competent,
confident and fit to practice. The QA approach is seen to be fundamental for quality improvement,
it would be appropriate to consider its influence in the nursing education in Pakistan as the current
situation is evident of non-existence of such a system to assure its quality Method: The data is
drawn from a qualitative case study conducted in 2004. Among a purposive sample of 71 nurses
inclusive of a group of Controllers were interviewed on one-to-one basis. Interviews were audio
taped to reduce the risk of any misinterpretation and to facilitate the exact description of data as it
was said. The non-directive, semi-structured and open-ended questionnaire was used to collect
data. Thematic analysis of verbatim transcripts of the interviews was done. Results: The study
findings reveal a unanimous desire of the nurses to gauge quality of nurse education through
efficient and effective quality assurance system. Conclusion: A crucial need is felt to develop a
viable quality assurance system to ensure approved level of quality in nursing education to deliver
the right care to the right patient at the right time, every time. The continuous quality assurance
and improvement (CQAI) framework based on Deming Quality Cycle (Plan, Do, Check and Act)
could facilitate appropriate designing and development of mechanism.
Keywords: Quality, Quality Assurance, Nursing Education, Controllers, Continuous Quality
Improvement Framework, Nursing Council
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