Frequently Asked Questions
Chapter 12: Nursing Diagnosis

What are the purposes of nursing diagnosis?

The purposes of nursing diagnosis are to (1) communicate the health care needs of individuals and aggregates among members of the health care team and within the health care delivery system; (2) facilitate individualized care of the client, family, or community; and (3) empower the profession.

How does nursing diagnosis differ from medical diagnosis and how are they similar?

Both the nursing diagnosis and medical diagnosis are based on an assessment of the client and both are accompanied by expected clinical outcomes and interventions. Nursing diagnoses address human responses to a health state, problem, or condition. Medical diagnoses are used by physicians to identify or determine a specific disease, condition, or pathologic state. Nursing diagnoses reflect nursing’s holistic philosophy, and medical diagnoses label disease states.

What is the history of nursing diagnosis?

Nursing diagnosis was first mentioned in the nursing literature in the 1950s. The first NANDA conference was held in 1973 for the purpose of identifying, developing, and classifying nursing diagnoses. NANDA adopted Taxonomy I in 1986 and Taxonomy II in 2000. The American Nurses Association (ANA) incorporated nursing diagnosis into its Standards of Nursing Practice in 1973, Nursing: A Social Policy Statement in 1995, and in the Standards of Clinical Nursing Practice in 1998.

What are the components of a three-part nursing diagnosis?

The first component is a simple problem statement or diagnostic label describing the client’s response to an actual, possible, and risk health problem or to a wellness condition. The second component is the etiology statement, the “related to” statement, which describes the related cause or contributor to the problem. The third component is the defining characteristic, or the “as evidenced by …” statement.

What are the differences between actual, risk, and wellness nursing diagnoses?

Actual diagnoses are problems identified by the nurse that are already in existence. Risk diagnoses are situations in which problems might occur but are not currently in existence. Wellness diagnoses identify the individual or aggregate condition or state that may be enhanced by health-promoting activities.

What are the nine patterns of human response on which the NANDA taxonomy is based?

The NANDA nursing diagnosis taxonomy is based on nine patterns of human response: Exchanging, communicating, relating, valuing, choosing, moving, perceiving, knowing, and feeling.

What are some strategies for avoiding diagnostic errors?

Some strategies for avoiding diagnostic errors include (1) collecting sufficient and accurate data about the client; (2) analyzing the data thoroughly; (3) using an organizational framework, rather than personal biases, for clustering data cues; (4) adjusting for changes in the client’s condition and nursing diagnosis; (5) validating nursing diagnoses with authoritative sources, client, and/or family; (6) stating the nursing diagnosis as a three-part statement; (7) considering the etiology as a focus for nursing interventions; (8) avoiding using a symptom as a diagnosis; (9) avoiding using a diagnosis as an etiology; (10) avoiding using a disease state as a nursing diagnosis; and (11) stating the diagnosis as a situation that nurses are able to treat.

What are the barriers to the use of nursing diagnoses?

The barriers to the use of nursing diagnoses are time constraints, the organization of health care according to medical diagnoses, the constantly evolving refinement of the nursing diagnosis language, and the availability of numerous approaches for the formulation and application of nursing diagnoses.