Patients' Care Needs: Documentation Analysis in General Hospitals.
PURPOSE
The purpose of the study is (a) to describe care needs derived from records of patients in Dutch hospitals, and (b) to evaluate whether nurses employed the NANDA-I classification to formulate patients' care needs.


METHODS
A stratified cross-sectional random-sampling nursing documentation audit was conducted employing the D-Catch instrument in 10 hospitals comprising 37 wards.


FINDINGS
The most prevalent nursing diagnoses were acute pain, nausea, fatigue, and risk for impaired skin integrity.


CONCLUSIONS
Most care needs were determined in physiological health patterns and few in psychosocial patterns.


IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING PRACTICE
To perform effective interventions leading to high-quality nursing-sensitive outcomes, nurses should also diagnose patients' care needs in the health management, value-belief, and coping stress patterns.
['Paans|Wolter|W|', 'Müller-Staub|Maria|M|http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5194-6160']
D004282:Documentation D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand D006769:Hospitals, General D009426:Netherlands
NANDA-I classification nursing documentation nursing diagnosis record review