A nursing diagnosis is defined as a clinical judgement about individual, family or community responses to actual or potential health problems or life processes which provide the basis for selection of nursing interventions to achieve outcomes for which the nurse is accountable.

Accurate and valid nursing diagnoses guide the selection of interventions that are likely to produce the desired treatment effects and determine nurse-sensitive outcomes. Nursing diagnoses are seen as key to the future of evidence-based, professionally-led nursing care - and to more effectively meeting the need of patients and ensuring patient safety. In an era of increasing electronic patient health records standardized nursing terminologies such as NANDA, NIC and NOC provide a means of collecting nursing data that are systematically analyzed within and across healthcare organizations and provide essential data for cost/benefit analysis and clinical audit.

'Nursing Diagnoses: Definitions and Classification' is the definitive guide to nursing diagnoses worldwide. Each nursing diagnoses undergoes a rigorous assessment process by NANDA-I with stringent criteria to indicate the strength of the underlying level of evidence.

Each diagnosis comprises a label or name for the diagnosis and a definition. Actual diagnoses include defining characteristics and related factors. Risk diagnoses include risk factors. Many diagnoses are further qualified by terms such as effective, ineffective, impaired, imbalanced, readiness for, disturbed, decreased etc.

The 2009-2011 edition is arranged by concept according to Taxonomy II domains (i.e. Health promotion, Nutrition, Elimination and Exchange, Activity/Rest, Perception/Cognition, Self-Perception, Role Relationships, Sexuality, Coping/ Stress Tolerance, Life Principles, Safety/Protection, Comfort, Growth/Development). The book contains new chapters on 'Critical judgement and assessment' and 'How to identify appropriate diagnoses' and core references for all nursing diagnoses. A companion website hosts NANDA-I position statements, new PowerPoint slides, and FAQs for students.2009-2011 edition arranged by conceptsNew chapters on 'Critical judgement and assessment' and 'How to identify appropriate diagnoses'Core references for new diagnoses and level of evidence for each diagnosisCompanion website available