• Journal of Home Health Care Nursing
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• v.5
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• pp.47-60
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• 1998

This study was done to identify basic information in classifying nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions needed for the further development of computerized nursing care plans. Data were collected by reviewing charts of 123 home care clients who had active disease, for whom at least one nursing diagnosis was on the chart, and who had been discharged. Data included demographics, medical orders, nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions. The results of the study, which found the most frequent medical diagnoses to be cancer (40.7%) and brain injury (26.8%), showed that 'Impaired Skin Integrity'(18.3%), 'Risk for Infection'(15.0%), 'Altered Nutrition, Less than Body Requirements'(13.8%), and 'Risk for Impaired Skin Integ rity'(9.9%) were the most frequent nursing diagnoses. 'Pressure Ulcer Care'(28.4%) was the most frequent intervention for 'Impaired Skin Integrity', 'Infection Protection'(16.0%) for 'Risk of Infection', 'Nutrition Counseling'(26.8%) for 'Altered Nutrition' and 'Positioning'(22.0%) for 'Risk for Skin Integrity Impairment', Comparison of interventions with the Nursing Intervention Classification(NIC) showed that the most frequent interventions were in the domain 'Basic Physiological' (33.94%), followed by 'Behavioral'(27.8%), and 'Complex Physiological' (22.6%). Interventions related to teaching family to give care at home could not be classified in the NIC scheme. Examination of the frequency of NIC interventions showed that for the domain 'Activity & Exercise Management', 75% of the interventions were used, but for seven domains, none were used. For the domain 'Immobility Management', 93% of the times that an intervention was used, it was 'Positioning', for the domain 'Tissue Perfusion Management', 'IV Therapy' (59.1%) and for the domain 'Elimination Management', 'Tube Care: Urinary'(54.0%). The nursing diagnoses 'Altered Urinary Elimination' and 'Im paired Physical Mobility' were both used with these clients, but neither 'Fluid Volume Deficit' nor 'Risk of Fluid Volume Deficit' were used rather 'IV Therapy' was an intervention for 'Altered Nutrition, Less than Body Requirements', A comparison of clients with cancer and those with brain injury showed that interventions for the nursing diagnosis 'Impaired Skin Integrity' were more frequent for the clients with cancer, interventions for 'Risk of Infection' were similar for the two groups but for clients with cancer there were more interventions for' Altered Nutrition'. Examination of the nursing diagnoses leading to the intervention 'Positioning' showed that for both groups, it was either 'Impaired Skin Integrity' or 'Risk for Skin Integrity Impairment'. This study identified a need for further refinement in the classification of nursing interventions to include those unique to home care and that for the purposes of computerization identification of the nursing activities to be included in each intervention needs to be done.