role of nursing diagnosis versus doctor diagnosis?

Published

Hi! Okay please understand I mean NO disrespect...I myself want to be a nurse and am taking prereqs to get into a program!!

I was looking at some of the textbooks used in the nursing program earlier today. One was about care plans, and it had something in it called "nursing diagnosis."

I guess i'm just confused. I was under the impression that staff nurses didn't diagnose, they carried out doctor's orders. I was under the impression that staff nurses needed an understanding of how the body works and the science behind the human body in order to catch any errors the doctor might make and to know when to alert the doctor of a change in patient's condition (I mean, you have to for example know what a normal heart rate should be under xxx conditions to know that it is abnormal to notify the doctor, for example). I was under the impression that a nurse needed a doctor's order to give a patient even tylenol (which I don't agree with at all but was under the impression that's how things went).

I don't mean any disrespect....just trying to clarify what the role of the nursing diagnosis is.

If someone could clarify my thought process or explain it better, I would sincerely appreciate it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

A nursing diagnosis addresses a problem that can then be addressed with a nursing intervention. It might be "knowledge deficit r/t disease process" with a care plan to provide pt teaching; "potential for skin breakdown r/t urinary incontinence" with a care plan to address the incontinence and promote skin integrity. And on and on and on.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

Simple: Each identifies something for which an intervention WITHIN their respective scope of practice will pertain.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The doctor is focused on diagnosing a medical disease. The diagnosis doesn't change...

Nursing diagnosis is based on patient responses to health problems...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, ICU, educator.
The doctor is focused on diagnosing a medical disease. The diagnosis doesn't change...

Nursing diagnosis is based on patient responses to health problems...

:yeahthat:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm a student right now and I have another question: How do you use nursing diagnosis in practice?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I'm a student right now and I have another question: How do you use nursing diagnosis in practice?

You don't. I mean you are always going to use a systematic method to asses your patients, but in the "real" world of nursing a lot of this nursing careplan stuff is NEVER used.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

You don't. I mean you are always going to use a systematic method to asses your patients, but in the "real" world of nursing a lot of this nursing careplan stuff is NEVER used.

Yes, most of it is never used but it must be present in the chart.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Allow my to get to the heart of the matter.

Sorry, everyone if this hurts but it is the truth.

Every RN I know would not be caught carrying a NANDA guide on their person.

In the daily practice of nursing, there are a few hospitals in my area that use the silly jargon....that said, most hospitals use a common language that both doctors and nurses understand......

They are embarrassed of the language that nurses use.

If nurses want to be taken seriously in the medical community, then I think its time to get on board and start talking like educated big boys and girls.

You wont see a nurse practitioner charting using nursing diagnoses. You will see NP's, at least everyone I know , which = several hundred, charting exactly as a Physician would.

Its silly and its time to change. Bottomline.

There are many threads that address this topic, all with about the same result....a circular argument with time wasted and nothing gained....

*Puts on Flame Resistant Suit*

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I am in my first semester of nursing school and when we pulled out our NANDA nursing diagnosis books, I was like ARE YOU SERIOUS? Impaired religiousity? wandering? Impaired walking? Kind of bizarre if you ask me? It would make so much more sense to have the entire health care team on the same page...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in mostly PACU.

I agree that nursing diagnoses aren't really used. But I think the reason they are there is to provide some kind of framework for nurses to describe a patient's condition without making a medical diagnosis. I think it may just be for legal reasons.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Ah shucks, I am getting sucked in here to an issue that I know I cant win.....

I aint gonna do it...

Sowwy folks....

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion