Nurses’ attitudes toward nursing diagnosis during the implementation of a nursing diagnosis classification

Abstract

This article reports a study that verified differences on nurses’ attitudes toward nursing diagnosis (ND) during the implementation of the North American Nursing Diagnosis - International (Nanda-I) classification. The attitudes on ND of 60 baccalaureate nurses (age=37.2±7.0 years; years since baccalaureate degree=13.1±6.9 years; female=95%) had been evaluated at two moments during the implementation process, with an interval of approximately 12 months: before and after they started NANDA’s diagnoses documentation in patients’ charts. The Positions on Nursing Diagnosis instrument was used to measure the major variable. Total mean score on the first assessment was 100.3±21.8 and on the second one was 103.7±23.3. There were no significant difference of the total score between the two assessments (p=0.21), confirming the use of ND does not influence negatively on the attitude toward ND.