The number of quality improvement initiatives in hospitals has been steadily increasing in the last decades. Most of these initiatives are inspired by three quality control and improvement models developed in the manufacturing industry: the final inspection, the quality assurance and the total quality management. The purpose of this review is to describe how these methods have been implemented in healthcare organizations and to assess their effectiveness and acceptability by healthcare professionals. This review should help quality managers and healthcare professionals to choose a model that is best adapted to their needs and expected goals.