Results of NAON's Nursing Diagnosis Survey. A contribution to nursing's minimum data set.

Use of nursing diagnoses allows nurses to name and classify the judgments nurses apply to analysis of a patient's assessment data. Such classification systems are an important part of the proposed Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS) (see sidebar on next page). This article describes the findings of NAON's survey of members' (N = 1500) use of nursing diagnoses in the care of patients undergoing surgery and major invasive procedures. The response rate for this survey was 37.5% (n = 563) and found to be representative of NAON's general membership. Seven nursing diagnoses were reported as primarily used during the care of surgical patients. Six nursing diagnoses were reported to be applied in the care of patients undergoing significant invasive procedures. Findings of this study may be used to contribute orthopaedic nurses' unique perspective to the formation of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS).