This system appears to be applicable in all healthcare organizations where nursing care is provided. The double name--unit/ward--is explained in the organizational structure of nursing in the Netherlands: Nursing units are to be found only in organizations for community nursing. for example.
The benefits of the unit/ward based approach are that the practitioners themselves own and control it ; that they are actively in volved in nursing quality assurance and improvement as part of nursing quality management: and that they have the opportunity to develop their negotiation, facilitation and evaluation skills.
The system's major disadvantage is the dependence on group motivation. In the Netherlands the unit/ward based approach is the preferred choice of nurses who want ti undertake action in nursing quality management. assurance and improvement.
Before the unit/ward based approach could be developed. the difference between nursing (scientific) research and quality assurance had to be separated. as in the Netherlands both tend to be considered the same activity.
To show the difference,CBO developed a framework using the 1974 analysis by John Williamson at John Hopkins University. Here. professional care is divided into desirable and actual care according to preset standards and criteria. Both kinds of care are divided into attainable and not attainable professional care