Published 2024-02-10
Keywords
- Nursing role; Patient safety; Care quality; Evidence-based practice; Healthcare outcomes; Quality improvement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Patient safety and care quality remain central priorities for healthcare systems worldwide, with preventable adverse events continuing to pose significant clinical, ethical, and economic challenges. Nursing professionals, as the largest and most consistently present healthcare workforce, play a pivotal role in safeguarding patients and ensuring high-quality care across diverse clinical settings. This evidence-based review examines the role of nursing in enhancing patient safety and care quality by synthesizing findings from contemporary empirical studies, systematic reviews, and quality improvement reports published between 2016 and 2025. The review explores key nursing functions, including clinical surveillance, medication safety, infection prevention, effective communication, patient education, and care coordination. Evidence indicates that strong nursing practices are associated with reductions in adverse events, improved patient outcomes, enhanced patient satisfaction, and better organizational performance indicators such as reduced length of stay and improved compliance with safety standards. Additionally, the review highlights the influence of nursing education, staffing adequacy, leadership, and organizational culture on safety and quality outcomes. By integrating evidence across multiple healthcare contexts, this review underscores nursing as a critical driver of patient safety and care quality improvement. The findings support the need for sustained investment in nursing workforce development, evidence-based practice implementation, and supportive policy frameworks to strengthen healthcare system performance and patient-centered outcomes.