Invited Paper: Teaching Nursing Diagnosis to Increase Utilization After Graduation

Abstract

The majority of nursing programs identify the nursing process and diagnosis as critical elements in their curricula, yet it is often absent in classroom and clinical discussions. The failure of faculty to integrate the nursing process and diagnoses into learning experiences creates students spending endless hours creating a care plan document that requires little critical thinking, a document that does not improve the student's likelihood of utilizing nursing diagnosis after graduation. This paper would outline the educational barriers for integration of these concepts into practice. Classroom and clinical strategies that guide the student to focused learning on nursing diagnoses and utilize standardized predicted care plans can produce desired curriculum outcomes, and ultimately, practice utilization will be presented.