A nursing diagnosis is not similar to a medical diagnosis, as the former provides a diagnosis that can be treated with nursing measures. Since nurses cannot prescribe medication or diagnose a disease, therefore a nursing diagnosis neither prescribes treatments, medications nor does it describe a disease which are aspects that are not covered in nursing practice.
As per the NANDA (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association), there are five areas for nursing diagnosis: syndrome, risk, possible problem, an actual problem or wellness. A combination of various symptoms occurring because of a disease is called a syndrome and wellness is a diagnosis for possibility of positive results.
The Cystic fibrosis damages the lung due to thick secretions. Hence, a nursing diagnosis for cystic fibrosis would address the complications resulting from the disease and would state various interventions. For instance, a typical diagnosis would be that lung infections that happen intermittently are a symptom of cystic fibrosis.
The main purpose behind a nursing diagnosis is to achieve certain goals by establishing certain actions that can be carried out by all those who are caring for the patient. Hence, NANDA stresses that nursing diagnosis should be altered wherever required as it should be specific to the needs of the patient and should not be generalised for all diseases and patients alike.
During the nursing diagnosis, there are various assessments that are undertaken to get to the root of the problem. For instance, in the case of cystic fibrosis, the assessment might include aspects like oral temperature, patient’s colour to check for signs of low oxygenation, lung sounds and so on.
There are various interventions listed in a nursing diagnosis to help achieve the objective. In the case of an assumed cystic fibrosis, the interventions might include administration of aerosol treatments and adequate fluids, oral antibiotics, which are as per the needs of the patient.
An evaluation is then undertaken after the intervention, which is a necessary part of the nursing diagnosis to check whether the goals have been met or not. In case, the goals have not been achieved, then the evaluation suggests other interventions to heighten chances of meeting the goals.
Summary:
When taking the case of cystic fibrosis or diseases as such, the nursing diagnoses focus on treating the symptoms that are caused by the disease.