Clinical validation of the NANDA-I diagnosis of impaired memory in elderly patients.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to perform a clinical validation of the defining characteristics of impaired memory (IM) in elderly patients at a long-term care institution. METHODS: A sample of 123 elderly patients was evaluated with a questionnaire designed to identify IM according to the NANDA-I taxonomy. Accuracy measures were calculated for the total sample and for males and females separately. RESULTS: Sensitivity and specificity values indicated that: (1) inability to learn new skills is useful in screening IM, and (2) forgets to perform a behavior at a scheduled time, forgetfulness, inability to learn new information, inability to recall events, and inability to recall factual information are confirmatory indicators. CONCLUSION: Specific factors can affect the manifestation of IM by elderly patients. The results may be useful in improving diagnostic accuracy and efficiency of the IM nursing diagnosis.

Clinical validation of the nursing diagnosis decreased diversional activity engagement in patients with diabetes.

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic accuracy studies are important to identify the best set of defining characteristics for a given nursing diagnosis. The reliability of nursing inferences can be increased by using clinical indicators with high prediction capacity helping nurses to be more accurate in their clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: To clinically validate the nursing diagnosis Decreased diversional activity engagement in adult patients with diabetes. METHOD: A diagnostic accuracy study with a cross-sectional design was carried out patients with type 2 diabetes. A latent class model with random effects was used to measure the sensitivity and specificity. RESULTS: The diagnosis of Decreased diversional activity engagement was present in 62.2% of the patients. The defining characteristics with high sensitivity (good indicators for confirmation) were discontent with situation, physical deconditioning, and altertion in mood. Boredom, flat affect, discontent with situation, and frequent naps were the defining characteristics with the highest specificity values. These factors are considered good integrating components of the diagnosis under investigation in patients with diabetes. CONCLUSION: The nursing diagnosis decreased diversional activity engagement is frequent in patients with diabetes, and discontent with situation can be considered a good predictor of its occurrence due to its high values of specificity and sensitivity. IMPACT: The use of accurate clinical indicators in the diagnostic reasoning of nurses contributes to the achievement of outcomes centered on the patient's human responses.