This study aims to understand the aspects that interfere with the management of the Quality Programme, based on an analysis of the implementation process, the perception and attitudes of managers at a public hospital in the city of Salvador-Bahia, which began the implementation process in January 2009. This work is justified by the need to deepen our knowledge of the management reality of the hospital under study, by understanding the perception of senior management about the quality management programme, identifying factors that interfere with the operationalisation of the quality-oriented management model.

It is hoped that the results of this study will help the hospital's professionals, especially the directors and nursing staff, to reflect on their role in implementing the Quality Programme. Society is increasingly demanding quality in the services provided by both public and private organisations.

The pursuit of quality in healthcare services has therefore ceased to be an isolated attitude and has now become a technical, managerial and social imperative. .