Do nurses write nursing diagnoses correctly?

In this study it was proposed to examine the effect of educational intervention on nurses\u27 abilities to write nursing diagnostic statements. Studies have shown that the way nurses write nursing diagnoses is an area of weakness in the overall documentation process, and this was perceived by the researcher as being true also in Western Australia. One reason for this, identified in the literature, appears to be lack of education in writing nursing diagnoses. This study was conducted in a 190-bed public hospital using an experimental research design, using control and experimental groups to test the hypothesis that nurses\u27 abilities to write nursing diagnoses correctly will be improved by inservice education. A sample of 50 nurses was surveyed and were assigned to two groups of 25. Both groups were pre and post tested. Following data collection, the results were statistically analysed using Analysis of Covariance to determine the effects of the education. Results of the analysis revealed that the education of the 25 experimental group nurses had a significant effect on their ability to write nursing diagnoses..