Learning how to write recommendations in a nursing dissertation can be difficult because recommendations must do more than provide a list of sensible suggestions. They need to emerge directly from your findings, reflect the strength of your evidence and identify realistic actions for nursing practice, education, policy or future research.
A strong recommendation answers a straightforward question:
Given what this dissertation found, what should reasonably happen next?
However, the answer must remain proportionate. A small qualitative study, a literature review containing mixed-quality evidence or a single-site quality improvement project rarely justifies statements about what every hospital, nurse or healthcare organisation must do.
Instead, good recommendations demonstrate that you understand both the importance and the limits of your findings.
Key Takeaways
Strong nursing dissertation recommendations should:
- follow directly from findings discussed earlier;
- identify who could act and what they could realistically do;
- distinguish proposed action from the finding and its implication;
- use language that matches the strength of the evidence;
- consider feasibility, resources and context;
- prioritise a small number of specific, defensible actions;
- identify precise future research needs rather than stating only that “more research is needed”.
What Are Recommendations in a Nursing Dissertation?
Recommendations are evidence-informed proposals developed from the findings, discussion and limitations of a dissertation.
Depending on the project, recommendations may address:
- nursing practice;
- patient education;
- professional education and training;
- healthcare policy;
- service organisation;
- quality improvement;
- future research.
Recommendations should not appear as unrelated ideas at the end of the dissertation. Instead, the reader should be able to trace each recommendation back to an issue that was established earlier.
Findings, Implications and Recommendations Are Different
Students often confuse these three stages.
| Section | Main question | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Finding | What did the research identify? | Patients reported inconsistent discharge information. |
| Implication | Why does this matter? | Inconsistent information may reduce patient understanding and continuity of care. |
| Recommendation | What could reasonably happen next? | Services could evaluate a structured discharge communication process supported by individualised education. |
The important sequence is:
Finding → interpretation → implication → recommendation
Therefore, avoid moving directly from a single finding to a major practice recommendation without demonstrating why the action is justified.
If you are still developing the previous stage, your discussion of implications for nursing practice should explain why the finding matters before you decide what response to recommend.
Recommendations also need to align with the final answer developed in your nursing dissertation conclusion.
Where Should Recommendations Appear in a Nursing Dissertation?
There is no universal dissertation structure.
Depending on your university, recommendations may appear:
- near the end of the discussion chapter;
- in a separate recommendations section;
- within a combined discussion and conclusion chapter;
- after the limitations;
- or within the final conclusion.
Always follow your module handbook, dissertation guidance and marking criteria.
Regardless of their location, recommendations should normally come after sufficient analysis of the findings. Otherwise, the reader cannot determine whether the proposed action is supported by the research.
How to Write Recommendations in a Nursing Dissertation Step by Step
Step 1: Return to Your Research Question
Before writing recommendations, return to your original research question, aim and objectives.
Ask:
- What problem was the dissertation investigating?
- What did the evidence actually show?
- Which findings were strongest?
- Which uncertainties remain?
- Which findings have meaningful consequences for nursing?
This prevents the recommendations section from moving away from the original purpose of the dissertation.
For example, if your dissertation examined barriers to medication adherence, recommendations should normally relate to barriers identified in your evidence.
Introducing a recommendation about nurse staffing would be difficult to justify unless staffing emerged as a relevant factor.
Step 2: Identify the Findings That Require Action
Not every finding needs a recommendation.
Some findings improve understanding without identifying a clear intervention.
Select findings that reveal:
- a preventable practice problem;
- a recurring patient-safety concern;
- an educational need;
- a service gap;
- an organisational barrier;
- inconsistent evidence;
- or an important unanswered research question.
A useful question is:
What important issue remains unresolved because of this finding?
If you cannot answer this clearly, reconsider whether a recommendation is necessary.
Step 3: Decide What Type of Recommendation Is Appropriate
Most recommendations fall into four main groups.
Nursing Practice Recommendations
These concern how care might be assessed, planned, communicated, delivered or evaluated.
Education Recommendations
These concern professional learning, competency development, simulation, supervision or continuing professional development.
Policy and Service Recommendations
These may concern local procedures, referral pathways, documentation systems, service organisation or governance.
Future Research Recommendations
These identify specific uncertainties that further research should address.
You do not need to include all four categories.
The categories used should depend on what your dissertation found.
Step 4: Identify Who Could Act
Vague recommendations are difficult to implement.
For example:
Communication should be improved.
This does not explain who should improve it, what needs to change or how improvement might occur.
A stronger recommendation would be:
Ward teams could evaluate a structured discharge communication process that combines a written checklist with individualised patient education.
The responsible group and proposed action are now identifiable.
Depending on the dissertation, relevant actors may include:
- registered nurses;
- nurse educators;
- ward managers;
- clinical leaders;
- multidisciplinary teams;
- service managers;
- policymakers;
- commissioners;
- future researchers.
Step 5: Connect Every Recommendation to Evidence
A recommendation becomes academically convincing when the reader can see exactly why it was made.
A useful structure is:
Finding → significance → proposed response
For example:
Several studies identified inadequate follow-up support as a barrier to medication adherence. This may leave patients without sufficient assistance when difficulties emerge after treatment initiation. Community services could therefore evaluate structured nurse-led follow-up for patients requiring additional medication-management support.
The recommendation is not an isolated suggestion. Its logic is visible.
Step 6: Match the Strength of Your Language to the Evidence
Avoid making recommendations stronger than your evidence allows.
Words such as:
- proves;
- guarantees;
- eliminates;
- always;
- definitely causes;
- must be implemented universally
should be used only when genuinely justified.
In student research, more proportionate expressions often include:
- could consider;
- may benefit from;
- warrants evaluation;
- could be evaluated;
- may be appropriate;
- should be considered;
- requires further investigation.
Cautious wording does not make an argument weak. It demonstrates awareness of uncertainty.
Step 7: Make Each Recommendation Specific
Consider this recommendation:
Nurses should receive more training.
It is too general.
A stronger version is:
Clinical teams could evaluate targeted education on recognising and escalating early signs of delirium, accompanied by competency assessment and subsequent audit.
Now the reader knows:
- who is involved;
- what education concerns;
- what action is proposed;
- and how its effectiveness might be evaluated.
Specificity makes recommendations more useful.
Step 8: Consider Feasibility
Recommendations occur within real healthcare systems.
Ask whether the proposed action would require:
- additional staff;
- funding;
- specialist equipment;
- protected training time;
- new technology;
- policy approval;
- organisational change;
- ethical approval;
- or substantial changes to clinical workflow.
A recommendation can acknowledge these limitations.
For example:
A nurse-led follow-up intervention could initially be evaluated through a small quality improvement project before wider implementation, particularly where staffing capacity is limited.
This is more realistic than demanding immediate organisation-wide change.
How to Write Recommendations in a Nursing Dissertation for Different Study Designs
The nature of your recommendations should reflect your research methodology.
Literature Review or Systematic Review
Recommendations should reflect:
- quality of included evidence;
- consistency between studies;
- methodological weaknesses;
- heterogeneity;
- relevance to the target population;
- and remaining evidence gaps.
Suppose most studies suggest an intervention is useful but are small or observational.
Avoid:
All hospitals should implement the intervention.
A more defensible statement is:
The intervention may warrant further evaluation in clinical practice, although larger prospective studies are needed before widespread implementation can be recommended.
Quantitative Nursing Dissertation
Quantitative recommendations should consider more than whether a p-value was statistically significant.
Consider:
- effect size;
- confidence intervals;
- sample size;
- confounding;
- reliability;
- study design;
- clinical significance.
Most importantly, avoid treating association as causation.
If a cross-sectional study finds that burnout correlates with intention to leave, it cannot by itself prove that burnout causes nurses to leave employment.
Qualitative Nursing Dissertation
Qualitative recommendations often relate to:
- patient experiences;
- staff experiences;
- communication;
- accessibility;
- service organisation;
- person-centred care;
- support needs.
However, consider transferability.
A small study conducted on one ward should not automatically be used to make claims about every NHS hospital.
Quality Improvement Project
Recommendations may concern:
- the next Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle;
- sustainability;
- continued measurement;
- stakeholder engagement;
- staff training;
- modification of an intervention;
- or cautious spread to another area.
A successful local QI project does not prove that the intervention will work identically in every service.
How to Write Recommendations for Nursing Practice
Practice recommendations should explain how findings could inform care without presenting the dissertation itself as a clinical guideline.
Possible areas include:
- assessment;
- patient education;
- communication;
- documentation;
- care planning;
- medication management;
- multidisciplinary working;
- escalation;
- discharge planning;
- follow-up;
- patient safety.
For example, suppose a dissertation finds that patients repeatedly report confusion about medication changes following discharge.
A weak recommendation is:
Nurses should explain medications better.
A stronger recommendation is:
Clinical teams could evaluate a structured medication-discharge process combining verbal explanation, written information and confirmation of patient understanding.
The second recommendation identifies a concrete response without guaranteeing that it will solve the problem.
Recommendations for Nursing Education
Training recommendations are appropriate when your findings genuinely indicate a knowledge, skill or confidence gap.
However, avoid recommending education automatically.
Sometimes a problem is caused primarily by:
- workload;
- staffing;
- poor workflow;
- lack of equipment;
- ineffective leadership;
- inaccessible services;
- or organisational policy.
Training cannot solve every systems problem.
Where education is appropriate, specify:
- who needs the education;
- what the education should cover;
- why the findings justify it;
- how effectiveness could be evaluated.
For example:
Preceptorship programmes could incorporate scenario-based education on recognising and escalating clinical deterioration, with subsequent competency assessment.
That is considerably stronger than simply recommending “more training”.
How to Write Future Research Recommendations
One of the weakest phrases in many dissertations is:
More research is needed.
The problem is not that the statement is necessarily wrong. It is that it tells the reader almost nothing.
A strong future-research recommendation identifies:
- what remains unknown;
- why it remains unknown;
- which population requires investigation;
- what methodological weakness should be addressed;
- and, where appropriate, what research design may help.
Weak Example
More research is needed on nurse burnout.
Improved Example
Future longitudinal studies should examine whether changes in staffing conditions are associated with subsequent changes in burnout and actual staff turnover rather than relying solely on cross-sectional measures of intention to leave.
This recommendation addresses a specific methodological gap.
Future research recommendations may arise because existing studies:
- used small samples;
- relied heavily on self-report measures;
- lacked longitudinal follow-up;
- excluded important populations;
- produced conflicting findings;
- used inconsistent outcome measures;
- or did not examine relevant confounders.
Recommendations Versus Implications for Nursing Practice
This distinction deserves particular attention.
An implication explains the meaning or consequence of your findings.
A recommendation proposes a response.
For example:
Finding: Nurses reported difficulty accessing specialist mental health support.
Implication: Delays in specialist input may affect continuity and escalation of care.
Recommendation: Services could review referral pathways and evaluate whether clearer escalation criteria improve access to timely specialist assessment.
Do not turn every implication into a recommendation automatically.
Some implications may simply identify an important issue requiring further investigation.
How Many Recommendations Should a Nursing Dissertation Include?
There is no universal number.
Follow your university guidance if a specific requirement is provided.
Otherwise, prioritise quality rather than quantity.
Three carefully justified recommendations are usually stronger than ten repetitive or speculative suggestions.
Rank potential recommendations according to:
- strength of evidence;
- importance to nursing or patient care;
- feasibility;
- potential impact;
- degree of uncertainty.
Your strongest findings should normally generate the strongest recommendations.
A Practical Recommendation-Writing Framework
Use four questions for each recommendation.
| Element | Question |
|---|---|
| Evidence | What finding supports this recommendation? |
| Actor | Who could realistically act? |
| Action | What specifically should be considered or evaluated? |
| Boundary | What limitations or contextual factors affect it? |
Example
Given the recurring finding that patients experienced inconsistent information at discharge, ward teams could evaluate a structured discharge communication checklist alongside individualised verbal education. Implementation should be assessed for workload, patient understanding and applicability across clinical specialties before wider adoption.
This recommendation is:
- evidence-linked;
- specific;
- realistic;
- appropriately cautious;
- and potentially measurable.
Common Mistakes When Writing Nursing Dissertation Recommendations
Introducing New Ideas
A recommendation should not depend on an issue that appears for the first time in the final chapter.
If an idea is important enough to generate a recommendation, it should normally have been examined earlier.
Repeating the Findings
Do not simply restate the results and label them “recommendations”.
Move from evidence to action.
Confusing Implications With Recommendations
“This may influence continuity of care” is an implication.
“Services could evaluate a standardised handover process” is a recommendation.
Making Universal Claims From Limited Evidence
A small study does not justify telling every healthcare organisation to adopt the same intervention.
Respect the boundaries of your design.
Recommending Education for Every Problem
Training is only appropriate when the evidence identifies an educational need.
System problems may require system-level responses.
Ignoring Feasibility
Recommendations requiring unlimited staffing, funding or specialist resources may have little practical value.
Writing Generic Future Research Recommendations
Avoid ending every project with:
More research is required.
Explain what research is required and why.
Making Too Many Recommendations
A long list can weaken the strongest recommendations.
Prioritise.
Example of a Nursing Dissertation Recommendations Section
Imagine a dissertation examining barriers to medication adherence among adults with type 2 diabetes.
A recommendations section might state:
The evidence indicates that medication adherence is influenced by patient understanding, medication beliefs, treatment complexity and access to continued support. Therefore, nursing practice should not approach non-adherence solely as patient non-compliance.
First, services could evaluate structured medication education that allows patients to discuss concerns and demonstrate their understanding of treatment instructions. Second, patients experiencing difficulty managing complex regimens may benefit from targeted follow-up after treatment changes. However, implementation should reflect local staffing capacity and individual patient needs.
Future longitudinal studies should examine whether nurse-led education and follow-up are associated with sustained improvements in adherence over time. Research should also examine populations that remain under-represented in the current evidence.
Notice that the recommendations:
- follow from identified findings;
- identify realistic actions;
- retain cautious wording;
- recognise implementation conditions;
- and identify a specific future research need.
Final Checklist for Nursing Dissertation Recommendations
Before submitting your recommendations section, ask:
- Does every recommendation originate from evidence already discussed?
- Have I clearly separated findings, implications and recommendations?
- Have I identified who could realistically act?
- Is each recommended action specific?
- Does my wording reflect the strength of the evidence?
- Have I considered feasibility?
- Have I avoided causal claims that my study design cannot support?
- Are future research recommendations specific?
- Have I avoided introducing important new evidence?
- Have I prioritised the strongest recommendations?
- Does the section follow my university’s dissertation structure?
- Can the reader understand exactly why each recommendation has been made?
Need Help Reviewing Your Nursing Dissertation Recommendations?
If you have already drafted your recommendations but are unsure whether they follow logically from your findings, academic support can focus on the connection between your research question, results, discussion, implications and final recommendations.
Nursing Dissertation Service can provide developmental feedback on structure, evidence alignment, academic language and the boundaries of your recommendations.
The aim should be to strengthen your own academic work through research guidance, developmental feedback, editing and proofreading rather than replacing your authorship.
Before seeking support, keep your dissertation brief, marking criteria and university academic-integrity requirements available. These determine the structure and level of assistance that is appropriate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between implications and recommendations in a nursing dissertation?
Implications explain why findings matter. Recommendations identify what could reasonably be done in response.
Should recommendations contain references?
Recommendations should primarily emerge from evidence already analysed in the dissertation. If you rely on a professional guideline, policy or framework, reference it according to your university’s required style.
Can recommendations appear in the conclusion?
Yes. Some universities include recommendations within the conclusion, whereas others use a separate recommendations section or place them near the end of the discussion.
Can a systematic review make recommendations for nursing practice?
Yes, but the strength of the recommendation should reflect the quality, consistency and applicability of the included evidence.
What tense should I use when writing recommendations?
Recommendations commonly use modal expressions such as “could”, “should consider” and “may benefit from”. Past tense is generally more appropriate when describing what the study found.
How do I avoid making my recommendations too general?
Identify the evidence, responsible group, specific action and limitations for each recommendation.
Conclusion
Understanding how to write recommendations in a nursing dissertation means translating evidence into realistic and proportionate next steps.
Begin with your research question and findings. Identify which findings genuinely justify action, explain their significance, determine who could respond and propose a specific action. Most importantly, ensure that the strength of each recommendation matches the strength of the evidence.
Effective recommendations do not need dramatic claims. Their strength comes from being evidence-linked, specific, feasible and appropriately cautious.
Whether the recommendation concerns nursing practice, professional education, healthcare services or future research, the reader should be able to trace it directly back to the dissertation.
References
University of Leeds (n.d.) The Conclusion: Structure Your Writing. Skills@Library, University of Leeds. Available at: https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/14011/writing/220/structure-your-writing/5 (Accessed: 24 August 2026).
University of Leeds (n.d.) Final Chapter: Structuring Your Project. Skills@Library, University of Leeds. Available at: https://resources.library.leeds.ac.uk/final-chapter/structuringyourproject.html (Accessed: 24 August 2026).
University of Manchester (n.d.) Academic Phrasebank: Writing Conclusions. University of Manchester. Available at: https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/writing-conclusions/ (Accessed: 24 August 2026).
University of Manchester (n.d.) Academic Phrasebank: Discussing Findings. University of Manchester. Available at: https://www.phrasebank.manchester.ac.uk/discussing-findings/ (Accessed: 24 August 2026).
University of Nottingham (n.d.) Essays: Studying Effectively. University of Nottingham. Available at: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/studyingeffectively/writing/writingtasks/essays.aspx (Accessed: 24 August 2026).
