Nursing Diagnoses: Types and Importance

Nursing diagnoses are crucial in the healthcare field, as they provide a standardized language for nurses to identify and describe health problems. These diagnoses form the basis for the development of care plans and guide the application of nursing interventions. They can be categorized into four main types: problem-focused, risk, health-promotion, and syndrome diagnoses.

Problem-focused Diagnosis

A problem-focused diagnosis identifies a patient's current health problem or an issue that is present during a nursing assessment. It can be resolved during a shift or last throughout the patient's hospitalization. Examples of problem-focused diagnoses include:

• Anxiety related to situational crises and stress (related factors) as evidenced by restlessness, insomnia, anguish, and anorexia (defining characteristics)
• Chronic pain syndrome
• Impaired gas exchange

Risk Diagnosis

A risk diagnosis identifies when a patient is at risk for developing a problem. It is based on risk factors or vulnerabilities the patient has encountered. Examples of risk diagnoses include:

• Risk for infection as evidenced by inadequate vaccination and immunosuppression
• Risk for fall as evidenced by muscle weakness

Health-promotion Diagnosis

Health-promotion diagnoses are used to identify how to help improve the health of a patient. They involve the patient and their family or community members. Examples of health-promotion diagnoses include:

• Readiness for enhanced self-care as evidenced by expressed desire to enhance self-care
• Nutrition: deficient as evidenced by poor appetite and weight loss

Syndrome Diagnosis

A syndrome diagnosis identifies a cluster of diagnoses for a patient. These diagnoses are best described together, as the patient may be experiencing a number of health problems forming a pattern. Examples of syndrome diagnoses include:

• Chronic pain syndrome
• Acute pain syndrome

The NANDA-I system is the most widely used nursing diagnosis classification system. It has 235 nursing diagnoses and 47 classes related to each category. To perform a nursing diagnosis, nurses follow the nursing process, which includes assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

In conclusion, nursing diagnoses provide a standardized language for nurses to identify and describe health problems. They help guide the application of nursing interventions and improve communication among healthcare professionals. Understanding the different types of nursing diagnoses is crucial for providing high-quality patient care.