Nursing education and the quality of care: towards a new conceptualization of good nursing care.
The article examines the quality objectives adopted in Finnish nursing education and the principles of student evaluation. The concept of 'good nursing care' reflected in these objectives and principles is compared with the views of practising nurses (N = 269) and nursing teachers (N = 223). [The comparison suggests that the official definition of good care is very similar to the views of nursing practitioners: in both the emphasis is on the comprehensiveness of nursing care, the treatment of patients as individuals, and certain other basic principles.] The analysis is based on 'grounded' theory and involves both qualitative and quantitative elements. The latter are present in the assessment of the unanimity of the two groups investigated and in the search for (tetracore) correlations between the concepts derived. The evaluation of the quality of care is based on a classification of 70 different content categories, reduced to eight main categories, which are here defined in rather general terms. Using these categories, good nursing care may be defined follows: it is comprehensive; based on the needs of the patient; oriented to the patient as an individual; conducive to a sense of security in the patient; forms a complex process; involves self-care on the part of the patient; is based on certain philosophical foundations; and contains certain situational factors.
Leino-Kilpi
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D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D003479:Curriculum; D004506:Education, Nursing; D005387:Finland; D006801:Humans; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000592:standards*; D009742:Nursing Theory; D011787:Quality of Health Care