This article has the following objectives: to state the continuity in quality assurance in nursing without developing them, to point out the changes and the trends, to comment on them and to suggest plans of action. The objectives will be attained integrating these changes into the two first steps of the evaluation: the elaboration of norms and the measuring, including structure and process and mentioning the outcome. Proposals as how to act are presented; different actors have to play their own role: the nursing profession, the nursing unit, the nursing department, the executive board of hospitals, the legal and representative authorities.