This International Standard specifies the characteristics of two categorial structures, with the overall
aim of supporting interoperability in the exchange of meaningful information between information
systems in respect of nursing diagnoses and nursing actions. Categorial structures for nursing diagnoses
and nursing actions support interoperability by providing common frameworks with which to
a) analyse the features of different terminologies, including those of other healthcare disciplines, and
to establish the nature of the relationship between them,
b) develop terminologies for representing nursing diagnoses and nursing actions,
c) develop terminologies that are able to be related to each other, and
d) establish relationships between terminology models, information models and ontologies in the
nursing domain.
There is early evidence that the categorial structures can be used as a framework for analysing nursing
practice[17] and for developing nursing content of electronic record systems.
This International Standard is applicable to the following user groups:
- developers of terminologies that include nursing diagnosis and nursing action concepts;
- developers of categorial structures and terminologies for other healthcare domains, to support
clarification of any relationship to or overlap with nursing concepts;
- developers of models for health information management systems such as electronic health records
and decision support systems, to describe the expected content of terminological value domains for
particular attributes and data elements in the information models;
- developers of information systems that require an explicit system of concepts for internal
organization, data warehouse management or middleware services;
-developers of software for natural language processing, to facilitate harmonization of their output
with coding systems.
It is not intended for use by clinical nurses without health informatics expertise. However, Annex C
provides an introduction to categorial structures to assist those without health informatics expertise
to contribute to its development, review, implementation and evaluation.