A controlled vocabulary for nursing practice and research.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Nursing Science
• Information Science

Background:

• Developing standardized vocabularies is crucial for effective indexing and retrieval of nursing information.
• Existing terminologies like Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) and the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) offer a foundation for specialized vocabularies.
• Controlled vocabularies enhance consistency and accuracy in classifying nursing research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the development of a controlled Nursing Vocabulary for indexing and information retrieval.
• To integrate this vocabulary into the Finnish thesaurus, FinMeSH, as an independent theme.
• To assess and validate the effectiveness of the developed nursing vocabulary.

Main Methods:

• The vocabulary was created by merging terms from MeSH and ICNP, focusing on 10 central nursing themes.
• The developed vocabulary was added as a distinct theme to the existing FinMeSH thesaurus.
• Initial validation involved testing the vocabulary for indexing nursing research, followed by revisions.

Main Results:

• A controlled Nursing Vocabulary comprising 10 core nursing themes was successfully developed.
• The vocabulary was integrated into the Finnish MeSH thesaurus (FinMeSH).
• Preliminary testing indicated the need for revision, with further validation planned.

Conclusions:

• The developed controlled Nursing Vocabulary provides a structured approach to indexing nursing literature.
• Integration into FinMeSH facilitates its use within the Finnish healthcare information system.
• Ongoing validation is essential to ensure the vocabulary's continued accuracy and utility for nursing research and practice.