Quality assurance and UK nurse education.

AIM: To evaluate the quality assurance model for nursing education in the United Kingdom (UK) for the first nine months after the inception in 2002 of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC).

METHOD: A specially designed questionnaire was administered to representatives of higher education institutions where nurse education took place and representatives of the NMC in all four countries of the UK.

RESULTS: Quality assurance activity had taken place across the UK, mostly in the shape of validation events. Quality assurance events proceeded largely as expected by higher education and NMC representatives. There was a statistically significant trend towards greater preparedness and knowledge for validation and satisfaction with the new quality assurance procedures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland compared with England.

CONCLUSION: At the time of this study the new quality assurance procedures were less than 12 months old and there may have been resistance to change in England where the changes were greatest.