Nursing phenomena in inpatient psychiatry

Area of Science:

• Nursing
• Psychiatric Nursing
• Healthcare Classification Systems

Background:

• The applicability of the North American Nursing Diagnosis Association-International (NANDA-I) classification to adult inpatient psychiatric nursing care is not well-established.
• Understanding the alignment between NANDA-I and actual nursing practice in psychiatric settings is crucial for improving care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify nursing phenomena documented in scholarly articles concerning adult inpatient psychiatric nursing.
• To compare these identified phenomena with existing NANDA-I diagnostic labels and definitions.
• To evaluate the comprehensiveness of the NANDA-I classification for psychiatric inpatient nursing.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature search was conducted across major databases: MedLine, PsychInfo, Cochrane, and CINAHL.
• A qualitative content analysis approach was employed to extract and categorize nursing phenomena from selected journal articles.
• Identified phenomena were systematically compared against NANDA-I diagnostic labels and definitions.

Main Results:

• The study identified a range of nursing phenomena relevant to adult inpatient psychiatric care within the reviewed literature.
• NANDA-I's labels and definitions adequately describe several essential phenomena pertinent to this patient population.
• However, certain significant nursing phenomena were found to be either absent from NANDA-I or incorporated as defining characteristics or related factors within existing diagnoses.

Conclusions:

• The NANDA-I classification provides a foundational description of phenomena in adult inpatient psychiatric nursing.
• Gaps exist, indicating a need for refinement and expansion of the NANDA-I system to fully capture the scope of psychiatric nursing practice.
• Enhancing the NANDA-I classification is recommended to better support daily clinical work and elevate the quality of inpatient psychiatric nursing care.