Abstract

• Recognition of the usefulness and the importance of the nursing diagnosis is increasing. There is a prevailing opinion that nursing diagnosis should be used to improve the quality of nursing care. Developing standardized nursing care plans based on nursing diagnoses is therefore considered one of the most essential projects for professional growth and improvement in the nursing world of Korea. Consequently, in the first stage of this research project, the ten nursing diagnoses used most frequently with patients on medical and surgical wards were determined and related nursing care plans were developed, implemented and evaluated. The application of the standardized nursing care plans raised the nurses' confidence and proved to the effective in enhancing the quality of nursing care. This study was initiated as the next stage, to develop, test and determine the validity of nursing care plans for the remaining nursing diagnoses. Nineteen medical and surgical wards were selected for the study ; the 176 staff nurses working on those wards and 1211 patients hospitalized there (603 patients during the nursing care plan use) took part in the project. The following summarizes the results of the study : 1. After listing all the nursing diagnoses up to the 20th in frequency from each ward except the ten used in the first study, 22 nursing diagnoses were selected. Two related to 'self care deficit', were combined into one. Standardized nursing care plans were established for these 21 nursing diagnoses. 2. The first page of each nursing care plan lists the related factors and defining characteristics as supporting data. The application rate distribution revealed that the majority were recorded less than 50% of the time. For each nursing diagnosis, only one to three related factors were recorded more than 50% of the time regardless of the number of suggested related factors, and similarly, only one to five defining characteristics were recorded more than 50% of the time regardless of the number of suggested defining characteristics. Therefore, these factors and defining characteristics were proposed as the common related factors and the typical signs and symptoms for each nursing diagnosis. 3. The application rate distribution for the expected outcomes, and the nursing orders that were the main data of each nursing care plan occurred more than 50% of the time, unlike the related factors and the characteristics that occurred less frequently. These findings supported the clinical validity. 4. In an effort to evaluate indirectly the effect of the use of the standardized nursing care plans, nurses' job satisfaction and perceptions of their ability in the use of the nursing process were measured and compared. Scores after the use of the plans were significantly higher than those before. The experience in actually using the standardized nursing care plans with patients increased the nurses' professional and emotional satisfaction and their confidence in using the nursing process. Also when the nurses who actually used the nursing care plans were asked to rate their effectiveness, the highest score was given to 'the ease of establishing the nursing goal', followed by 'improved professional advice and care for patients', 'the efficiency and systemization of charting', 'the definite recognition of the nursing problem', and 'the selection of effective and appropriate nursing interventions' in descending order. The results indicate the nurses were very positive about the effect of the real clinical application of standardized nursing care plans, and that the objective of this study to utilize the nursing diagnosis to strengthen the nursing process was attained.

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