On request of the Dutch Nursing Association (V&VN), the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (TRIMBOS institute) developed  instruments for nurses to measure the quality of care. One of the instruments is focused on the nursing of patients with severe mental illness who are admitted in a long stay facility. Adhesie, a mental health care hospital in the Netherlands, has chosen to implement this instrument and, to develop an instrument what can be used in short term care. At first, the resident nursing teams were informed about the project. Each team chose it’s own coordinators (two senior nurses). The instruments were evaluated by the coordinators, their superior and the project leader. The instruments contain several items which cover a broad scope of aspects regarding mental health nursing. On the questionnaire, each item is expressed in three levels: either the quality of care is justified, minimal or irresponsible. Each ward adjusted these descriptions to their particular context. The standard instruments as developed by the Trimbos Institute were thus partly rewritten, as the method requires. Measurement were conducted during one week. Each nurse completed the questionnaire daily at the end of her shift. Results were calculated and the analysis leads to improvement plans. Measurements are repeated twice a year per ward. The result are used as an outcome indicator for the quality of the nursing care. Participating nurses are enthusiastic about the methodology. After years of their intuition, telling them that the quality of care could be improved, they now use a proven methodology from which they gain insight in the quality of their work and in the results of the efforts they perform to increase the quality of care.