Validation of Nursing Management Diagnoses

Nursing management diagnosis based on nursing and management science, merges “nursing diagnosis” and “organizational diagnosis”. Nursing management diagnosis is a judgment about nursing organizational problems. The diagnoses provide a basis for nurse manager interventions to achieve outcomes for which a nurse manager is accountable. A nursing organizational problem is a discrepancy between what should be happening and what is actually happening that prevents thegoals of nursing from being accomplished. The purpose of this study was to validate 73 nursing management diagnoses identified previously in 1992: 71 of the 72 diagnoses were considered valid by at least 70% of136 participants. Diagnoses considered to have high priority for future research and development were identified by summing the mean scores for perceived frequency of occurrence and level of disruption. Further development of nursing management diagnoses and testing of their effectiveness in enhancing decision making is recommended.