As nurses have identified the phenomena of concern to nursing and developed diagnostic language, there has been a persistent omission of diagnostic labels that reflect health and a wellness orientation. The fact that the term “diagnosis” has been identified with problems and deficits has impeded work on wellness diagnoses. Further, lack of consensus regarding a definition of health further complicates work in this area. The authors propose a model that incorporates a category of “opportunity to enhance,” in addition to the categories of “problem” and “high risk” to derive a trifocal model of nursing diagnoses. Examples from nursing practice are given.
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