Correspondence among care prescriptions for patients with orthopedic problems and the Nursing Interventions Classification

Abstract

The objective of this work was to compare the care prescribed by nurses for orthopedic surgery patients after surgery with the interventions and activities proposed by the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC), in order to verify its agreement. The study was carried out at the Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (a University hospital in the south of Brazil), using the mapping technique. Data on the 170 studied patients were obtained by the Computerized Nursing Prescription System. The 52 care forms related to nursing diagnosis (ND) Self-Care Deficit - bath and/or hygiene, Impaired Physical Mobility and Risk of Infection – were mapped with 33 nursing interventions, contained in 14 classes and 4 Domains. The comparison between nursing prescriptions and the interventions proposed by the NIC for the 3 ND studied evidenced there is agreement among them. We considered that the NIC may become an important source of consultation to improve and to base nursing care.