[Quality of nursing care seen from the Scandinavian nurse's viewpoint]

The aim of this study was to do the nurses' perception of quality of care explicit and to describe the quality of nursing from the nurses' perspective using a grounded theory approach. Sixteen nurses in four Nordic countries were interviewed. On the basis of the analysis a system theoretical model was generated. In the model there is a core category: patient focused outcome, and three mutual dependent categories; nursing capacity, organisation and physical environment. These categories are dynamically interrelated with the categories, relation and knowing the patient. The model is discussed in relation to relevant theories.