• To increase your awareness of the benefits of using a standardised nursing taxonomy in mental healthcare
• To enhance your knowledge of the nursing taxonomy published by NANDA International (NANDA-I)
• To read about the experiences of nurses in a mental health unit in Sweden of using the NANDA-I taxonomy
Background The lack of a standardised nursing taxonomy to clarify nurses’ assessments and other elements of the nursing process can potentially lead to a lack of care continuity and patient safety. The taxonomy published by NANDA International (NANDA-I) has been shown to improve the quality of mental health nurses’ documentation and clinical care.
Aim To describe nurses’ experience of working in mental health inpatient care with a structured nursing taxonomy of diagnoses based on the NANDA-I taxonomy.
Method Semi-structured interviews were conducted with five nurses working on three inpatient wards in a mental health unit in Sweden. The data were analysed using qualitative manifest content analysis.
Findings The nurses’ experiences of using the NANDA-I taxonomy were described through three themes: ‘benefits of having a common language’, ‘usefulness of the NANDA-I taxonomy in the mental health context’, and ‘importance of how healthcare organisations apply the NANDA-I taxonomy’.
Conclusion The common language provided by the NANDA-I taxonomy contributed to making nursing care more structured and person-centred. However, for the NANDA-I taxonomy to be effective, local nursing guidelines need to be synchronised with it.
Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2023.e1648
Peer reviewThis article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and checked for plagiarism using automated software
Correspondence Conflict of interestNone declared
Ander C, Åling M, Nahlén Bose C (2023) Nurses’ experiences of using the NANDA International taxonomy in mental healthcare. Mental Health Practice. doi: 10.7748/mhp.2023.e1648
AcknowledgementsThe authors would like to thank the participants in this study
Published online: 25 April 2023
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