ABSTRACT
Nursing diagnosis differs from medical diagnosis, because nursing diagnosis focuses on the consequences of living with the medical diagnosis and/or a set of signs and symptoms. Let’s think about a really simple example: a patient goes to their general practitioner (GP) complaining of constipation. After carrying out an assessment, the GP diagnoses constipation and prescribes medication. If a practice nurse sees the patient, then the systematic nursing diagnosis will focus more on the consequences of living with constipation, such as the patient feeling bloated, dizzy or nauseous, or not understanding what constipation is or what causes it. It then follows that the interventions leading from this process of systematic nursing diagnosis will be different to that prescribed by the GP. The nursing care will place greater emphasis on making the patient comfortable, reassuring them and offering them advice about diet and exercise. The nursing intervention would involve making sure that the patient understands the medication, how to take it, what side effects to look for and how to try and make sure that the constipation doesn’t return in the future. Nurses not only offer care that is complementary to that prescribed by the GP, but we also offer a unique contribution that is identifiable as nursing care.
