An exploration of the nursing diagnosis terminal syndrome.

As a result of the limitations of a single nursing diagnosis, NANDA has encouraged the development of "syndromes." A study was undertaken using an investigator-developed tool to identify the cluster of defining characteristics, nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions for terminally ill patients, regardless of disease origin. The sample consisted of completed medical records of 15 randomly selected chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients and 15 randomly selected cancer patients. For all three areas there were commonalities, specifically 10 defining characteristics, seven nursing diagnosis and a 27%-48% agreement on the nursing interventions selected. A clustering of data has been documented to support the establishment of the nursing diagnosis, terminal syndrome.