Developing the nursing care plans using the "master file of standardized nursing practice terminology" in Japan.

A common language in nursing facilitates better communication among nurses and healthcare team, assuring better nursing care, hence better patient outcomes. As we developed and disseminated the standardized terminology of nursing which provided nurses with a set of terms to describe nursing observations and nursing actions, we developed a certain number of nursing care plans using the terms in it. The nursing care plans included those for the patients requiring medical (pharmaceutical)/surgical procedures or the patients showing some signs and symptoms. Generally, nurses found that the nursing care plans were useful and flexible enough to allow for the modification according to the needs of each individual patient. In conclusion, the nursing care plans based on the standardized terminology showed its relevance to the clinical settings.