Implementing a unit-based quality assurance program.

QA yields opportunities to improve patient outcomes as well as to identify problem areas. QA activities work when they are planned, systematic, organized, and ongoing. Monitoring is most easily completed concurrently by staff as part of their everyday activities rather than as an extra task to be done after a regular shift. Since staff nurses are the primary caregivers in this institution, a unit-based model for QA, where staff take the responsibility, yielded the best overall improvements in patient outcomes and quality of care.