The current literature suggests one of the challenges of nursing today is to meet the health care needs of the growing older population, people over the age of 65. Quality of nursing is important for acutely ill older people who are the largest group of patients in terms of hospital admissions. The ageing population is a major focus for social and economic planners and policy makers. There is an increasing need for health systems to change their focus to more closely assess strategies used to manage the acutely ill older hospital population. The main aim of this study was to improve the quality of nursing care for older, acutely ill, hospitalised medical patients. The study used a mixed method triangulated approach that utilised quantitative and qualitative methods to survey perceived needs of older patients, their family members/carers and the nursing staff, in the process of developing, implementing and evaluating a new model of care using a participatory action research (PAR) process. There were three specific objectives. The first was to evaluate which aspects of nursing care were considered most important for older patients during acute hospitalisation from the perspective of older patients, their family members/carers and their nurses. The second was to develop and implement a model of care that addressed the identified nursing care needs and priorities of older patients through the PAR process. The third was to determine whether employing a PAR process, the chosen model of care addressed the identified nursing care needs and priorities and resulted in increased patient satisfaction and improved health care for older patients. This study demonstrated the implementation of a PAR process to motivate nursing staff, utilising an evidence-based model of care approach, resulted in changes to clinical nursing practice that impacted positively on older patients’ and nursing staff’s satisfaction with care provided, patient knowledge and final health outcomes. It is recommended that the findings of this study be applied to develop guidelines for acutely hospitalised medical patients, particularly for issues relating to educational sessions to increase the patient’s functional activities and knowledge levels of their medication regimes prior to discharge. / Master of Health Science (Hons)