Ten baccalaureate nursing programs were described including the performance of selected program characteristics and their predictability for perceived levels of quality-management. Four research questions were examined in this exploratory study: (1) What levels of quality-management are demonstrated by baccalaureate nursing programs? (2) To what extent are each of 15 program characteristics of the Program Assessment Questionnaire demonstrated by each baccalaureate nursing program? (3) To what extent are each of 15 program characteristics of the Program Assessment Questionnaire demonstrated by baccalaureate nursing programs with varying levels of quality-management? (4) What patterns emerge, if any, regarding the predictability of the 15 program characteristics as well as the age, size, and type of program for the level of quality-management? Data were collected from 258 student and 68 faculty respondents using the Program Assessment Questionnaire (ETS). A need exists to learn more about the performance of baccalaureate nursing programs, especially in this decade as they are impelled by drastic changes in the field of higher education, the profession of nursing, and the health care delivery field!.

Findings included "number of students who fail the program," "success rate on NCLEX" and " qualifications of faculty" having the greatest differences between programs reporting higher, average, and low quality-management scores, and "extent of outreach" having the least difference between these three levels. Programs reporting the higher quality-management scores also reported higher means for 13 of the 15 program characteristics. Best predictors for program assignment to quality-management levels were seven characteristics dealing with student and faculty satisfaction and student academics. Least predictive were two characteristics dealing with program resources.

Limitations include the size of the sample and the initial use of the tool used to establish quality-management scores. Continued study of these programs as well as a replication of this study using other nursing programs were recommended.