Meanings of good nursing care among Thai female last-year undergraduate nursing students.
OBJECTIVE
To describe and express the meanings of good nursing care among female last-year undergraduate nursing students of a nursing college in Bangkok, Thailand.


BACKGROUND
In Thailand today, nursing educational programmes aim at producing graduates who can explore options in nursing science.


METHODS
Twenty nursing students were interviewed and observed using the ethnographic method.


RESULTS
Six categories emerged, viz., compassion (give care from heart; have sympathy; be kind and helpful; have and share feelings; be friendly and be concerned; be honest), competency (have knowledge, skill and experience; be interested to learn; have responsibility; be professional; be confident; know what to do without hesitation), comfort (assist, help and treat patient as self; attend, give patient dignity and respect; have goals and give nursing care corresponding to the patients' needs), communication (have time to listen, talk and explain; be willing to listen and inform patients; meet patients' needs), creation (create new knowledge; apply theory in practice; continue MSc or PhD study; do research) and courage (advocate for patient's needs and rights, intervene for and with patient; make decisions about nursing care; face and solve patient's problems).


CONCLUSIONS
The findings should be useful in the development and continuous improvement of nursing educational programmes, including curricula and teaching methods.
Lundberg
P C
PC
Department of Public Health and Caring Sciences, Uppsala University, Sweden. pranee.lundberg@vard.uu.se
Boonprasabhai
K
K
D000328:Adult; D000884:Anthropology, Cultural; D001290:Attitude; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003142:Communication; D003405:Creativity; D003657:Decision Making; D004508:Education, Nursing, Baccalaureate; D004645:Empathy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009732:Nursing Care; D012944:Social Support; D013785:Thailand