Patient outcomes: assessment issues for the CNS.

Patient outcomes are becoming markers of health care effectiveness and quality. The CNS is uniquely positioned to influence outcomes evaluation within nursing. One way to accomplish this is through recommendations on the selection and use of appropriate patient assessment tools within the patient database. Recommendations of the CNS should be based on: an awareness of patient outcomes of particular interest to nursing; a goal of standardized, retrievable clinical data; characteristics of clinically appropriate assessment tools for outcomes evaluation; and data needs of patient outcomes research as well as traditional clinical research.