NOW FOR AN ORIGINAL PAPER ASSIGNMENT:Assignment: The Practice of Fasting

This activity guides the nurse to assess the dilatation and effacement of the cervix and presentation of the fetus, before making a judgment about continuing the induction procedure.

LaDuke (2000) provides an additional example of using the NIC to make nursing interventions visible. For example, LaDuke noted that the intervention of emotional support, described by McCloskey-Dochterman & Bulechek (2004) requires “interpersonal skills, critical thinking and time” (LaDuke, p. 43).

NIC identifies emotional support as a specific intervention, provides a distinct definition for it, and lists specific activities to provide emotional support. Identification of emotional support as a specific intervention gives nurses a standardized nursing language to describe the specific activities necessary for the intervention of emotional support.

Improved Patient Care

The use of a standardized nursing language can improve patient care. Cavendish (2001) surveyed sixty-four members of the National Association of School Nurses to obtain their perceptions of the most frequent complaints for abdominal pain. They used the NIC and NOC to determine the interventions and outcomes of children after acute abdomen had been ruled out. Nurses identified the chief complaints of the children, the most frequent etiology, the most frequent pain management activities from the NIC, and the change in NOC outcomes after intervention.

The three chief complaints were nausea, headache, and vomiting; the character of the pain was described as crampy/mild or moderate; and the three most identified etiologies were psychosocial problems, viral syndromes, and relationship to menses. The psychosocial problems included test anxiety, separation anxiety, and interpersonal problems. Nutrition accounted for a large number of abdominal complaints, such as skipping meals, eating junk food, and food intolerances. Cultural backgrounds of the children, such as the practice of fasting during Ramadan, were identified as causes for abdominal complaints.This database collects nurse-sensitive and unit-specific indicators from health care organizations, compares this data with organizations of similar size having similar units, and sends the comparison findings back to the participating organization. This activity facilitates longitudinal benchmarking as the database has been ongoing since the early 1990’s (National Database, 2004).