The demand for higher education has increased worldwide and the response has been an impressive expansion of educational offerings both within and across countries. Given the deepening global nursing shortage, many countries are seeking ways to increase the number of qualified nurses within their own borders (Carty, Moss, Al-Zayyer, Kowitlatwakul, & Arietti, 2007).

Therefore, the National League for Nursing (2003) provided a clear and compelling directive for nursing education. It recommended dramatic reform and innovation in nursing education to create and shape the future of nursing practice. Faculty, students, consumers and nursing personnel must work in partnership to design innovative educational systems that meet the needs of the healthcare delivery system now and in the future.

In this context, there is a dearth of evidence on the impact of quality management system to school and student outcomes. It can also be inferred that not much work has been done to determine how faculty and school profiles, school characteristics and quality management system influence performance measures of nursing education institutions on NLE school performance and employability of the graduates.

No quality management system model has been proposed utilising significant findings from an outcome study that can be used as an operational framework in a given nursing education institution. The study utilised the descriptive research design. Samples of the study were faculty members conveniently selected from private, and public nursing education institutions (N=530). A questionnaire survey was the primary tool used that underwent test-retest reliability. 0.91 reliability correlation coefficients were noted, thus instruments were highly reliable. Panel of experts were consulted to validate the survey constructs. The research tool comprised of four parts. Multiple regression analysis stepwise procedure with entry and removal values of 0.05 and 0.10, respectively, was used to treat the data.

There was a positive association of the highest education completed on quality and performance measures. Doctoral and post-doctoral level in nursing are needed to enhance quality of care, improve health outcomes and contribute to the further development of the nursing discipline, nursing knowledge and evidence-based practice in clinical settings.

Position in the workplace, years in the institution and monthly income directly influence the performance of most faculty members. School type, school management structure and organisation, teaching methodologies and resources, effective classroom management, effective supervision of instruction and administrators, student services and support programmes also directly influence the performance measures as noted in most institutions.

Accreditation ensures a basic level of quality in the education one receives from an institution and provides an assurance that the educational activities of an accredited institution or programme have been found to be satisfactory and, therefore, meet the needs of the students and a prerequisite in many cases for undertaking licensure for a profession.

Moreover, leadership is an important indicator of quality. Leadership supports and rewards faculty collaboration for teaching, scholarship and service. Effective leaders create an environment that encourages faculty and staff to engage in reflective thinking and critical analysis of professional contributions and programme outcomes.

The main limitation of this study is that it did not include all nursing education institutions nationwide. Longitudinal study for a five- and ten-year period of school outcomes and performance evaluation in classroom and clinic would also measure the school progress in national licensure examination and employability of graduates.

Relevance of Article in Nepali Market
Recent media reports have indicated that there are serious issues with Nursing Education in Nepal. These issues relate to quality of infrastructure and also the kind of depth in the education system. Nursing colleges should focus, not only in the techincal edcuation, but also in management education. With booming healthcare expansion in Nepal, quality of nursing also must go hand in hand. Therefore, research findings used in context of Philipinse can be adopted in the Nepali market to a great extent. The service marketing area included in Management Education can be higly relevant for Nursing career.

By Binod Shrestha,
Shrestha is a research student (Ph. D.) at The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton