Standards constitute a very important part of any quality assurance program at the organization’s levels. It is not enough for the organization to be aware of the quality dimensions on which the quality of the services provided depends or to be judged. Rather, the organization must help those who work in it to achieve the customer’s expectations accurately by setting the standards for them. Which makes this easier for them.

 The definition :

 The standard is a definition of expected quality, and its goal is to ensure that the service matches the needs and expectations of the customer and not the needs and expectations of the hospital.

 Standard characteristics:

1- Credibility: It means that there must be a strong relationship between the standard and the desired results, and that the standards rely as much as possible on research evidence.

2- Reliability (stability): It means that the standard always gives the same results every time it is used in the same measurement conditions.

3- Realism: means the possibility of using standards within the resources available to the organization.

4- Clarity: The standards must be understandable to those who use them. 

5- Modernity: The standard reflects the latest available scientific information.

Sources of standards: There are many sources of standards. There are standards that have been previously prepared, and sometimes it may be necessary to prepare new standards, as follows:

 Standards previously prepared:

 o Local standards. 

 o International standards. 

 o Standards from service bodies and institutions.

 o Standards from educational institutes and institutions. 

 o International experts. 

 o Local experts

 Standards being re-established:

 Sometimes it may be necessary to prepare a new work manual and prepare updated specifications. In such a case, there are many sources that can be relied upon, such as:

 o The World Health Organization and other international organizations.

 o Professional bodies such as unions and scientific societies. 

 o Educational institutes. 

 o International experts.

 o Local experts. 

 Nursing standards:

 They are acceptable and honest definitions that express the quality of nursing care. Standards are not considered valid unless they have a means of measurement so that they are given the opportunity to measure the quality and effectiveness of nursing care. Nursing standards have been set by multiple institutions concerned with the quality of nursing care, and these standards differ depending on the institution, as some consider the standards to be the minimum required level of service. Whatever the definition, the function of the standard is to provide the means by which the level of quality is measured. 

Writing nursing standards:

 In order to write nursing standards, seven steps must be followed as follows:

1- Choose the specialization that will be covered by the standards and type.

2- Determine the goal of setting standards and specify the purpose of achieving them if:

 • Patient focused

• Nurse-focused 

3- Determine the nursing actions necessary to achieve the goals.

4- Determine the time required to complete nursing work.

5- Writing the standard in an acceptable form.

6- Review each standard, taking into account that there are no ambiguous words or actions that are difficult to measure.

7- Measuring the availability of the standards’ characteristics in each standard that has been developed.