Toward a standardized language to describe perioperative nursing

The Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) is a standardized language that identifies all interventions performed by nurses. Each nursing intervention has a label name, a conceptual definition, and a set of defining activities. The NIC provides a standardized nomenclature for automated databases, describes and measures nursing's contribution to health care, facilitates nursing education, supports clinical decision making, plans resource allocation, and facilitates nursing research. Perioperative nurses can use the NIC to describe and document their contributions to surgical patients' outcomes.