Labeling revisited: diagnoses in disguise?

The study examines 125 labels central to nursology used by practicing nurses to describe patients. Each nurse described the response pattern identified by each label, organizing and prioritizing its characteristics to produce a diagnostic algorithm. After work-peer affirmation of the chart's accuracy, the response pattern was renamed as a "syndrome." Predominant characteristics of each syndrome were analyzed. Nurses developed treatment protocols that they believed would reduce, control or "cure" defining characteristics. Field testing of these protocols demonstrated that conditions identified by labels (which normally lead to nurse avoidance) could be effectively treated when approached proactively. Some syndromes involved response patterns related to medical diagnosis or treatment, specific units in the hospital or the health care system itself. Nursology also includes less-than-ideal responses to circumstances that threaten personal well-being.