Redefining nursing according to patients' and families' needs: an evolving concept. AACN Certification Corporation

Patients' and families' needs have been displaced from the core of today's health-care system. Nurses are positioned to serve a pivotal role during such a critical time, as health-care systems evolve. The health-care system of the future must be driven by the needs of patients and families. Nurses must make decisions and take actions that are crucial in ensuring that this becomes a reality. Nurses must acknowledge that the historical conceptualization of nursing--delineating clinical practice dimensions according to a patient's diagnosis, a nurse's role, the clinical setting, and the patient's psychosocial and physiologic systems--is of limited value if we are to meet these future challenges. Redefining nursing practice according to patients' needs provides an organizing framework to examine, across all levels of nursing, the dimensions of practice most likely to meet patient needs and contribute to optimal outcomes, as well as enhance the linkages between practice, education, and research.