An emphasis on quality assurance in the health and other caring professions together with a national investigation into vocations has thrown into sharp relief the often intangible and elusive characteristics of successful professional practice. Thus the health care, social service and education professions are being pressed to clarify their objectives and to demonstrate that their particular practices are the most cost-effective way of achieving a quality service for their patients, clients and students. There is, therefore, widespread interest in the techniques of Quality Assurance and in the investigation and improvement of professional practice. This book includes a comprehensive review of the characteristics, rationale and methods of Quality Assurance and traces its history from its origins in manufacturing industry to its current application to health and other forms of care. It considers the distinctive characteristics of the caring professions and identifies the advantages and problems of Quality Assurance in care. Professional competence is identified as a key factor in the production of a quality service and the book reviews the ways in which a number of caring professions, including medicine, nursing, teaching and speech therapy, have conceived, described, measured, evaluated and trained for this competence. Finally the book outlines and evaluates various ways in which professional competence might be made more explicit including, for example, behavioural analysis, social skills analysis and recent consultative methods which involve the professionals themselves.