Formulating and Validating Nursing Diagnosis I

The standardized terminologies of nursing diagnosis assist nurses in identifying and treating patients' problems.

There are 13 domains for health problems in taxonomy order.

While formulating a diagnosis, ensure the problem statement emphasizes the health problem as it provides the foundation for the entire diagnosis. 

Note that a nursing diagnosis should focus on the patient's problem rather than needs.

Also, a nursing diagnosis should be in legally acceptable terms and non-judgemental language.

For example, instead of "recurrent pain related to insufficient medication," "chronic pain related to improper medication use" is more appropriate.

The diagnostic label follows a problem, etiology, and symptom—or PES—format.

Similarly, standardized labels have definitions, related factors, and defining characteristics.

In nursing diagnosis, the problem statement precedes etiology, conjoined with the phrase "related to."

Following etiology, the terms "as manifested by" or "as evidenced by" are used.

For example, "Hyperthermia related to urinary tract infection as evidenced by a body temperature of 39 degrees Celsius".