NANDA

To start, have the NANDA-I most current edition in your hand. Read the introductory section for students.

Yes, you do need to do this. Think of it as the driver’s ED book you had to read before you had a clue about how to actually drive on the public roads, LOL. 

You are in school to learn to think like a nurse. I guarantee you that this will get you on your way. 

 

::wavey:: Hi AmoLucia!

There is no such thing as “a nanda.” Making a nursing diagnosis is just like making a medical diagnosis: you collect data and observations, then use standardized language to define what you see. Your physician doesn’t ”pick” a likely-sounding diagnosis from a list but makes a diagnosis based on exam findings, diagnostic tests, etc., right?

You will do the same, for nursing diagnoses that are within nursing’s sole power to treat (= our professional scope of practice) with nursing interventions.

Nurses do much more than implement parts of a medical plan of care— we are legally responsible for much more in assessing needs for a nursing plan of care and implementing that.
 

You don’t know how to do that yet, but you will. That’s why you’re in nursing school, to learn to think like a nurse, not a physician appendage.