Writing a nursing diagnosis for a complex client: the infant with a congenital heart defect.

Abstract

Abstract Staff nurses and student nurses often think of writing nursing diagnoses as a test in semantics. Clinically applying nursing diagnoses to a dependent client is frequently considered frustrating. The task is viewed to be even more taxing when trying to relate the nursing diagnoses to a complex infant or child who has a medical diagnosis of congenital heart disease. The intent of this article is fourfold: (1) to describe the importance of a nursing diagnosis; (2) to identify the difficulties in writing a diagnostic statement; (3) to delineate what constitutes a nursing diagnosis; and (4) to provide direction in writing a diagnostic statement, using a child with a congenital heart defect as an example.