Quality management at a hospital's nursing service.

The study aimed to know the opinion of nurses in relation to the Quality Management implemented in a hospital service. This is an exploratory and descriptive study carried out with a sample of 17 individuals. The main results, among the 14 principles of quality, reveal that the seventh principle 'adopt and institute leadership' received the highest score. On the other hand, the lowest scored principle was the third: 'cease the dependency of mass inspection'. The obtained results, coupled with theoretical knowledge on the subject and professional experience on the management of nursing services, lead us to the conclusion that nurses consider Total Quality a practical philosophy to be implemented in the services under their responsibility and accept the challenge of overcoming barriers related to tradition, going from discourse to practice.