<![CDATA[High-quality nursing care is fundamental to patient satisfaction and healthcare outcomes, yet frontline providers’ perspectives on service delivery remain critically underexplored. This study explored nurses’ perceptions of professional nursing service quality in hospital inpatient units in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Employing a qualitative phenomenological design, data were gathered through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with 21 head and clinical nurses possessing over one year of inpatient experience. Transcripts were analyzed using systematic thematic analysis. Five interrelated themes emerged: (1) strategic leadership and management by head nurses, (2) targeted strategies for service enhancement, (3) critical reliance on adequate human resources and physical infrastructure, (4) systematic efforts to align clinical practice with established quality standards, and (5) structured complaint management to optimize patient satisfaction. Findings reveal that leadership effectiveness, resource adequacy, standardized protocols, and responsive feedback mechanisms fundamentally mediate service quality. Nurses perceive professional care quality as a multidimensional construct shaped by managerial support, infrastructural capacity, workforce competence, and transparent grievance resolution. Healthcare administrators must prioritize leadership development, strategic infrastructure investment, and formalized complaint systems to sustain high-quality inpatient care. Future research should employ mixed-methods designs that triangulate nurses’ experiential insights with objective clinical indicators, such as patient safety incidents and fall risk metrics, to develop comprehensive, evidence-based quality improvement frameworks.]]>
