Need nurses opinions. Is this right?? Nursing Dx

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Hi all. I am a nursing student. I was working on my care plan that I turned in for class. It will count as one of the final grades in the class. My nursing instructor told me that my dx of Impaired thought processes related to Alzheimer's diagnosis was fine. So I wrote my care plan and all was well and I turned it in to the head professor for a final grade. WELL... come to find out while reading my school book that it says sometimes nursing dxs include medical etiologies and my school book said this is INCORRECT. It said you do not put "acute pain related to myocardial infarction." You would put something like "acute pain related to upper left incision pain." YIKES! I have turned in the care plan already for a final grade to the head instructor. The clinical teaher (who is a MS-RN) said the Impaired thought processes related to Alzheimer's diagnosis was fine. Which is right???? Should I go see the head teacher or just leave it alone??

Thanks for the input... Epona

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We are not allowed to use Medical Dx in our care plans. You could use Impaired Thought Process r/t increased confusion/ST Memory problems AEB asking the same questions repeatidly, ect and list the evidence that you have. But no Medical Diagnosis allowed. I do not know if your teacher would allow you to fix it or not since it is already turned in. It could never hurt to ask. Maybe tell them you remember something you did wrong et ask if you could edit it. Good luck. Let us know how it turns out.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

I really don't know why they don't allow you to use medical diagnosis...we just changed all our care plans in our hospital to allow for this. Such as: Impaired air exchange r/t RDS, pneumonia, etc.

I would go to the instructer and ask, at least you will know for next time.

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Specializes in Pediatrics (Burn ICU, CVICU).
Hi all. I am a nursing student. I was working on my care plan that I turned in for class. It will count as one of the final grades in the class. My nursing instructor told me that my dx of Impaired thought processes related to Alzheimer's diagnosis was fine. So I wrote my care plan and all was well and I turned it in to the head professor for a final grade. WELL... come to find out while reading my school book that it says sometimes nursing dxs include medical etiologies and my school book said this is INCORRECT. It said you do not put "acute pain related to myocardial infarction." You would put something like "acute pain related to upper left incision pain." YIKES! I have turned in the care plan already for a final grade to the head instructor. The clinical teaher (who is a MS-RN) said the Impaired thought processes related to Alzheimer's diagnosis was fine. Which is right???? Should I go see the head teacher or just leave it alone??

Thanks for the input... Epona

You are not supposed to use medical dx as part of a nursing dx.

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Specializes in CMSRN.

I had a similar problem when in clinical. My instructor gave me an example of a nursing dx which contains a medical dx.

I ended letting her know we were not supposed to do it. (at least as students)

But since you were given the OK and found out after the fact, I would think the instructor would let you revise the dx. Nothing else would change, would it?

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never use medical dx... use it only at the end of ur dx with a "secondary to" if u really want to use it

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Specializes in critical care transport.

Yes- nursing school instructors have different opinions, so whose do you listen too?

Technically, we don't use medical dx. I think the nursing dx is sometimes annoying, it's kinda like saying something without actually saying it (I hate beating around the bush).

If your nrsg instructor stated it was okay, and it comes back from another instructor as not okay, then you should get the points anyways, or be allowed to correct it.

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Specializes in RN CRRN.

I just want to say I love the pix=of the dog is it a beagle? I have 2! I just joined, and I must say when in school it depended on the clinical instructor unfortunately as you by now prbly know. Hope it all turned out okay for you-

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Hi everyone!! Thank you for all the posts! Yes silvergirl! It is a Beagle. I have two also! LOVE THEM. The best ever pups!! :)

Well I turned in the nursing dx with the reference to the medical dx and got a big phat A!!! Yup! I got a 94 percent in my clincial class! Yahoo! So I guess the RN instructors were Ok with the Impaired thought processes related to Alzheimer's diagnosis.

Yes Buddiage. I HATE beating around the bush too. I like to go straight for the actual problem and for some reason I can understand that better. Like "acute pain related to myocardial infarction," I can understand that. "acute pain related to upper left incision pain" that is harder for me to understand when I know it's in-fact related to the myocardial infarction. See too, I have one degree already... Pre Med and Broadcasting. So I am coming into Nursing with a Pre Med understanding...makes it a litte more challenging!! :uhoh3:

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There is no such thing as a "medical" diagnosis or a "nursing" diagnosis. A diagnosis is a diagnosis, period. A patient either has Alzheimers or they dont.

I cant believe that people still teach this "nursing" vs "medicine" nonsense. If you dont know what the diagnosis is yet, then write something like "altered mental status"

Thats the proper way to handle it, not make up extra stuff that doenst capture what the person's problem truly is.

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Specializes in Pulmonology/Critical Care, Internal Med.

We have different instructors who have different things. A lot of our instructors make up their own diagnosis. As they tell us, I don't want you to have to look at the book to know what the diagnosis is, I want you to look at your patient tell me what he needs. Asses your patient, look at his condition, what are his diagnosis, are there other things going on, etc. Make your diagnosis ffrom that, even if it involves a medical diagnosis. Nursing diagnoses are often very obscure. Pain related to MI is suscinct and to the point. The way it should be, everyone here understands that. Pain related to decreased cardiac tissue perfusion as evidenced by coronary artery blockage. Talk about wordy and bulky. No wonder most docs and the average person doesn't take nursing serious.

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