The Characteristics of the ‘Good Nurse’: A Scoping Literature Review

Ali Haddad

Nursing Research and Practice, 2025, vol. 2025, 1-20

Abstract: Aim: To explore nurses’ and patients’ perspectives on characteristics of the ‘good nurse’ (an ethical ideal, representing perfection in nursing practice) in hospitals.Design: Scoping literature review and narrative synthesis.Methods: The scoping literature review was undertaken using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology. Subsequently, a thematic analysis of identified papers was undertaken to uncover the main themes relating to characteristics of the good nurse.Data Sources: Five databases (Medline, Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health Professionals (CINAHL), British Nursing Index, Scopus and PsycINFO) were searched in May 2023. An initial 2968 records were identified, which were refined to 124 articles after screening titles and abstracts, and then further refined through more detailed review to 13 articles meeting the inclusion criteria for the study.Results: Two central themes were identified: character and competence. With respect to the good nurse’s character, the virtues which were identified as important include patience, being caring, optimism, trustworthiness, selflessness, respectfulness and confidence. With respect to competence, the studies revealed that the good nurse must demonstrate knowledge and technical skill, act in a professional way, be an expert communicator, be supportive to patients and colleagues and know how to provide holistic care.Conclusions: The results highlight the dual importance of character and competence in defining the good nurse. Nurses and patients both recognised the importance of balancing technical expertise with character traits and effective communication to offer the best possible care.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2025/8460996.pdf (application/pdf)
http://downloads.hindawi.com/journals/nrp/2025/8460996.xml (application/xml)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hin:jnlnrp:8460996

DOI: 10.1155/nrp/8460996

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Nursing Research and Practice from Hindawi
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mohamed Abdelhakeem ().