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Integrating Nursing Diagnostic Concepts into the Medical Entities Dictionary Using the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnosis

Affiliations of the authors: Department of Medical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, New York (JIH, JJC); School of Nursing and Department of Medical Informatics, Columbia University, New York, New York, USA (SB)

Correspondence and reprints: Jee-In Hwang, RN, PhD, Department of Health Services Management, Dongjak-Gu Noryangjin-Dong 57-1, Seoul, 156-800, Korea; e-mail: <jihwang{at}khidi.or.kr> or <jee-in.hwang{at}dmi.columbia.edu>

Received for publication: 08/15/02; accepted for publication: 01/29/03.

Objective: The purposes of the study were (1) to evaluate the usefulness of the International Standards Organization (ISO) Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a terminology model for defining nursing diagnostic concepts in the Medical Entities Dictionary (MED) and (2) to create the additional hierarchical structures required for integration of nursing diagnostic concepts into the MED.

Design and Measurements: The authors dissected nursing diagnostic terms from two source terminologies (Home Health Care Classification and the Omaha System) into the semantic categories of the ISO model. Consistent with the ISO model, they selected Focus and Judgment as required semantic categories for creating intensional definitions of nursing diagnostic concepts in the MED. Because the MED does not include Focus and Judgment hierarchies, the authors developed them to define the nursing diagnostic concepts.

Results: The ISO model was sufficient for dissecting the source terminologies into atomic terms. The authors identified 162 unique focus concepts from the 266 nursing diagnosis terms for inclusion in the Focus hierarchy. For the Judgment hierarchy, the authors precoordinated Judgment and Potentiality instead of using Potentiality as a qualifier of Judgment as in the ISO model. Impairment and Alteration were the most frequently occurring judgments.

Conclusions: Nursing care represents a large proportion of health care activities; thus, it is vital that terms used by nurses are integrated into concept-oriented terminologies that provide broad coverage for the domain of health care. This study supports the utility of the ISO Reference Terminology Model for Nursing Diagnoses as a facilitator for the integration process.

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