Nursing Diagnosis
The nurse develops a nursing diagnosis after analyzing information gained
from assessing the patient. A nursing diagnosis is a statement that describes
the patient’s actual or potential response to a health problem that the nurse
is licensed and competent to treat. The North American Nursing Diagnosis
Association (NANDA) developed a guide used by many nurses to arrive at a
nursing diagnosis.
A physician or advanced practitioner uses the medical diagnosis to prescribe
a treatment for combating the disease. This might involve medication and/or a
change in the patient’s lifestyle. A nurse uses the nursing diagnosis to develop
a comprehensive quality care plan to restore the patient to a state where the patient
can return to activities of normal living.
For example, a physician might diagnose a patient as having diabetes and pre-
scribes glucose monitoring and insulin injections to control the disease. The nurs-
ing diagnosis might be a knowledge deficit about the disease and the medications
to treat it. The nurse teaches the patient how to monitor glucose and give injections
as well as how to identify adverse side effects of the medication and of the disease.
Furthermore, the nurse determines if the patient has the financial, social, and men-
tal capacity to self-medicate. The nurse then develops a plan to enlist the health-
care team to assist the patient if the patient lacks the capacity.
The nursing diagnosis consists of a problem statement that identifies the poten-
tial or actual health problem that the nurse is licensed and accountable to treat. A
nursing diagnosis may also include the cause of the problem—such as alteration
in mobility related to right sided paralysis—which are factors related to or associ-
ated with the patient’s problem and symptoms that manifested the problem.
A common nursing diagnosis related to drug therapy might be:
- Knowledge deficit of disease and medication related to inability to under-
stand English
This occurs when the patient doesn’t understand the language used by health-
care professionals such as when healthcare is provided in English and English is
the patient’s second language.
- Risk for injury related to side effects of drug
The patient may be given medication such as narcotic analgesics for pain that
impairs the patient’s activities of normal daily life such as driving a car.
- Alteration in thought processes related to drug action
CHAPTER 3 Pharmacology and the Nursing Process^47