Aims of the study: 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.
Method: Twenty nursing students were interviewed and observed using the ethnographic method.
Findings: 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.