Evolution and revision of the Perioperative Nursing Data Set.

The Perioperative Nursing Data Set (PNDS) is a nursing language that provides standardized terminology to support perioperative nursing practice. The PNDS represents perioperative nursing knowledge and comprises data elements and definitions that demonstrate the nurse's influence on patient outcomes. Emerging issues and changes in practice associated with the PNDS standardized terminology require ongoing maintenance and periodic in-depth review of its content. Like each new edition of the Perioperative Nursing Data Set, the third edition, published in 2010, underwent content validation by numerous experts in clinical practice, vocabulary development, and informatics. The goal of this most recent edition is to enable the perioperative nurse to use the PNDS in a meaningful manner, as well as to promote standardization of PNDS implementation in practice, both in written documentation and the electronic health record.