Nursing diagnosis anyone? Do staff nurses use nursing diagnosis effectively?

The use of nursing diagnosis by staff nurses in a 225-bed metropolitan hospital was examined. The sample consisted of 82 newly hired nurses who had participated in a mandated staff development program on nursing process theory and use of nursing diagnosis, with an emphasis on transfer of knowledge to practice. The data collected included demographic information, attitudes concerning nursing diagnosis, pretest and posttest scores, and percent completed on the audits of chart documentation. A cross-tabulation by clinical arena was performed on the forms used to document utilization of nursing diagnosis. Analysis of the data indicated that a greater proportion of the charts for the nurses in the maternal/child clinical arena evidenced use of nursing diagnosis as a component of practice. The nurses in the critical care arena scored slightly lower. The nurses in the medical/surgical arena had the lowest compliance of both completion and utilization of nursing diagnosis. This study demonstrated that nurses can be taught to use nursing diagnosis in the clinical setting.