Which of the following statements by the nurse best defines ‘nursing

Which of the following statements by the nurse best defines ‘nursing diagnoses’ for a client?

1. “It is the basis for a client’s care plan.”
2. “It is what we nurses use to plan your care.”
3. “It is one of a set of standardized client oriented problems.”
4. “It is the way nurses identify what specific needs a client has.”

ANSWER

ANS: 4
In medicine, physicians diagnose and treat disease. In contrast, nursing is the “… diagnosis and treatment of human responses to actual or potential health problems …” (ANA, 2003). The scope of nursing is broad. For example, a nurse does not medically diagnose the client’s heart condition but instead assesses the client’s response to the disease and may develop nursing diagnoses of fatigue, change in body image, and altered coping. From these nursing diagnoses, the nurse cre-ates an individualized plan of care for each of the client’s health problems.
Although the other statements are correct, they are not the best options available because they do not fully explain the function of a nursing diagnosis.