Standardized Nursing Terminologies gives nurses a way to communicate concisely and clearly. It also enables them to communicate with other disciplines on issues like what diseases they are trying to treat and the outcomes they expect to achieve using a certain treatment plan. In essence, it provides a quick communication method of essential patient information.
The standardized terminology adopted in my field would be NANDA International. It is an organization that defines nursing diagnoses according to a certain criterion. The diagnoses are classified to help nurses choose the best care plan for the patient. In this way, it ensures that the care plan is patient based (Schwirian, 2013). It also provides a standard nomenclature that can be used in the EHR and improves communication among caregivers.
The importance of classification is that it enables the standardization of things, which allows people across many disciplines to understand the terminology. In nursing, classification of diagnosis helps nurses to easily identify it and refer to the most appropriate plan of care. For example, anxiety has its definition, series of symptoms and plan of care. Therefore, if a patient is suspected to be suffering from an anxiety disorder, NANDA-I comes in handy. It defines anxiety, the characteristics of anxiety, which will confirm that indeed the patient has anxiety. A definitive plan of care can then be implemented with the expected outcomes also seen (Schwirian, 2013).
The application of NANDA-I in nursing practice is beneficial because it reduces ambiguity. If a patient comes with certain symptoms, instead of reporting that patient A presents with headache, nausea, fatigue etc. a nurse can refer to NANDA-I and select the diagnosis that fits the patient’s symptoms and report that patient A has this diagnosis. Standardization of terminologies in nursing, therefore, makes communication very easy.
References
Schwirian, P. M. (2013, July). Informatics and the Future of Nursing:Harnessing the Power of Standardized Nursing Terminology. Retrieved from www.asis.org: http://www.asis.org/Bulletin/Jun-13/JunJul13_Schwirian.pdf
