Development of a Conceptual Framework of Nursing from Selected Concepts of Nursing Diagnoses

Kim, Cho Ja

Abstract

For the purpose of integrating nursing diagnosis into the nursing curriculum, a descriptive survey re search was done using the inductive method with questionnaires and a literature review. Research subjects included nurse educators, textbooks of adult nursing published in Korea, and the course outline for adult nursing used in one college of nursing. The Results show that there was common agreement on 39 nursing diagnosis which should be included in the adult nursing curriculum, textbooks of adult nursing, and patient care on the medical-surgical units. The two existing nursing diagnosis classification systems (NANDA and Gordon's Human Response Patterns) show different basic frameworks and difficulties were discovered in integration of nursing diagnosis into the curriculum. To develop a conceptual framework for a nursing diagnosis classification system, diagnosis were classified into three categories; health promotion, high risk problem, and actual problem on the basis of the framework used in adult nursing textbooks and Gordon's 11 Functional Health Patterns. Subconcepts for actual problems were classified as; activity and rest, nutrition and elimination, perception and coordination, stress and coping. Progress in this study supports further development of a conceptual framework of nursing based on a nursing diagnosis classification system, from which improvement in nursing education and clinical practice can be expected.