[Nursing diagnoses in acute psychiatric wards in Switzerland and Austria: commonalities and differences]

In Austria and Switzerland, nursing diagnoses in psychiatric nursing have been used increasingly over the last few years. To date, few empirical studies on the clinical use of nursing diagnoses in psychiatric nursing have been conducted. The purpose of this study was to examine the frequency and content of documented nursing diagnoses and to compare the utilization of nursing diagnoses in Austria and Switzerland. We prospectively registered all documented nursing diagnoses in an unselected sample of 330 patients consecutively discharged from eleven acute (admission) wards in five psychiatric hospitals in Switzerland and Austria. 635 nursing diagnoses were located. 83% of the patients had at least one nursing diagnosis (mean = 2, median = 1). 20% of the nursing diagnoses were documented on admission day and 90% of the diagnoses were formulated using NANDA terminology. The most frequently used categories were coping-related diagnoses, disturbed thought processes, and self care deficits. In comparison to Switzerland, nursing diagnoses are implemented more consequently in Austria. There seem to be differences between the two countries in the application of the diagnostic process. We conclude from the study's results that the application of nursing diagnoses is possible on acute psychiatric wards with a short length of stay of patients. 20 NANDA diagnoses account for a large portion of the care problems of acute psychiatric patients. Local differences in the use of the diagnostic process deserve further examination.