An Internet-Based Survey of Icelandic Nurses on Their Use of and Attitudes Toward NANDA,NIC,and NOC

PURPOSE

To gain understanding of how Icelandic nurses can be supported during a mandated change to the use of NANDA and NIC in clinical documentation practices.

METHODS

All members of the Icelandic Nurses Association of working age were invited to participate in an Internet-based survey. Each nurse was assigned a unique password mailed to his/her home along with information on how to access the survey Web site. Each nurse could submit answers only once. On submission, data were automatically coded and saved in a database under encrypted numerical identifiers.

FINDINGS

A total of 463 nurses (18% response rate) participated by submitting answers. The sample was representative of the population in terms of demographic characteristics. Information resources most valued when planning nursing care included text-based progress notes (77%), nursing care plans (52%), doctor's orders (49%), verbal information (48%), and documented nursing diagnoses (37%). Of the participants, 58% said NANDA was used in their workplace; 28% said no standardized nursing documentation was used; 19% reported using NIC always or sometimes when documenting nursing interventions; and 20% never used NIC. NOC use was reported only by researchers.

Of the sample, 86% reported that it is important or necessary for nurses to standardize documentation practices; 30% found NANDA useful in education; 56% found it useful for clinical work; 17% for research; and 7% found it not useful at all. Nine percent believed that NANDA diagnoses were not descriptive enough of patients' problems, and 23% found their wording problematic. No statistically significant differences were found between reported use of or attitudes toward NANDA and NIC when comparing nurses who use electronic patient record systems that support NANDA and NIC documentation and those who use paper documentation only.

DISCUSSION

The sample may have been somewhat biased toward computer use and classification system use for standardized and computerized documentation. However, results indicate that although Icelandic nurses give free-text progress notes and verbal information a higher priority than nursing diagnoses as an information resource for care planning, they have a positive attitude toward NANDA. NANDA and NIC are still used inconsistently in clinical practice, and 28% of participants claimed not to use any form of standardized documentation.

CONCLUSIONS

In an effort to standardize clinical documentation among nurses, Icelandic health authorities must follow their documentation mandates with educational and technologic support to facilitate the use of NANDA, NIC, and (after its translation) NOC in nursing documentation practices. Electronic patient record system developers must find ways to further facilitate standardized nursing documentation because currently there seems to be no difference between users and nonusers in terms of how they use NANDA and NIC in their documentation practices.