Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is an increasing trend of Pregnancy-associated Venous Thromboembolism (PA-VTE) over the years in China due to postponement of childbearing age, obesity, and the increasing incidence of pregnancy complications, thereby posing a substantial threat to maternal safety. However, there is a lack of a unified standard indicator system for women with PA-VTE. This study aimed to develop applicable nursing-sensitive quality indicators for women with PA-VTE. METHODS: Potential nursing-sensitive quality indicators were initially constructed based on literature review and research group discussion. A Delphi panel of eighteen experts (obstetric nurses, evidence-based nurses, nurse managers) participated in two rounds consultation. RESULTS: The constructed nursing-sensitive quality indicators for the women with PA-VTE included 3 primary indicators, 9 secondary indicators and 24 tertiary indicators. The response rate of the two rounds of expert survey questionnaires was 100%, the expert authority coefficient values of 0.89, and Kendall coordination coefficient W values ranging from 0.093 to 0.136. CONCLUSIONS: The final set of NSQIs, structured according to the Donabedian model, provides a quantifiable framework to guide clinical nursing practice and quality management for women with PA-VTE. Future work should focus on implementing these indicators in different hospital settings, evaluating their feasibility and reliability in routine data collection, and refining the indicator set based on empirical performance and patient outcomes. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12912-026-04517-y.