A Study of Quality Management Practices in Nursing in Universities in Australia

Abstract

In Australia, the traditional Quality Assurance approach used in the hospital setting has played an important role in nursing practice. During the past decade, nurses have begun making a paradigm shift from Quality Assurance to Total Quality Management but scant attention has been paid to quality management practices in nursing in the higher education sector. This paper reports on a quantitative study examining the perceptions of nurse academics to the applicability of TQM to nursing in universities. The findings identified how TQM could be applied to suit the nursing culture in the higher education sector.