Total quality management (TQM) which has been implemented for some time in industry and more recently in hospitals is just beginning to come to long term care organizations. Directors of Nursing can prepare themselves for such a program in their facility by learning from the experience of long term care facilities that have implemented TQM. This is part one of a two part series which describes the implementation process used and a discussion of problems encountered. The second article which will appear in a later issue describes the experience and findings of one project team-the nursing documentation team.