ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview and analysis of the range of patient outcomes attributed to nursing described by the informants. It outlines the main categories of the effects believed to be attributed to nursing across all three core categories of nursing action. The chapter summarises the main comparisons between nurses’ and patients’ views. Nurses and patients described how the nurse can help patients to cope through influencing their emotional state. Personal meaning is an important feature of coping, as is the individual’s appraisal of the significance of their situation. Therefore interpretive data provides opportunities to achieve a greater understanding of how nurses help patients to cope. The literature gives prominence to the effect of nursing on patient health although the data gives more emphasis to the patient outcomes of coping and adjustment. The presentation of individual nurses and nurses as a group are believed to affect the patient’s recovery.
