Introduction and Systematic Review of the Good Nursing Care Scale

Aim(s)To provide an introduction to the Good Nursing Care Scale (GNCS) and systematically review the application of the scale in health research.DesignSystematic review.MethodsEmpirical studies published in English or Finnish in peer-reviewed journals or as a summary of a PhD thesis where the scale was used for data collection amongst patients were included. Analysis was made by using descriptive statistics, narrative analysis, and evaluation of psychometric properties.Data SourcesPubMed, CINAHL, Cochrane, and Scopus in October 2023.ResultsA total of 26 full-text studies and summaries of PhD theses were included in the review. The GNCS has been developed systematically, and the theoretical structure has remained stable. The studies indicate a high level of patient-centered quality of nursing care. Validity and reliability evaluation and reporting were systematic in the studies and mainly indicate sufficient level. Variations between countries are not large, supporting the international use of the GNCS.ConclusionsPatient-centered quality of nursing care is predominantly at high levels. However, systematic evaluation is needed to provide longitudinal data. For that purpose, the GNCS is one potential instrument.Implications for the Profession and Patient CareSupport for the use of existing, tested instruments is encouraged to provide critical ideas for the future needs of nurse practitioners, managers, teachers and researchers.ImpactThis paper impacts researchers interested in systematic evaluation of the patient-centered quality of nursing care and for practitioners taking care of patients. For researchers, it introduces a relevant instrument, the GNCS, for analysing the quality or for comparing the quality with other instruments. For practitioners, it produces evidence of the usability of the GNCS.Reporting MethodPRISMA guided the systematic review, and the COSMIN guideline was used for quality appraisal of included studies.Patient or Public contributionNo Patient or Public contribution.