After communicating with the client and family, the nurse compares a client's problem list with identified nursing diagnoses. What action is the nurse performing to minimize diagnostic errors?

Question

1. Understanding what is normal vs. what is not normal
2. Verifying
3. Consulting resources
4. Basing diagnoses on patterns

Answer 1

Correct Answer: 2
Rationale 1: Nurses must apply knowledge from various areas to recognize cues and patterns to understand what is normal and not normal. This comes from principles of chemistry, anatomy, and pharmacology—not the client or the family.
Rationale 2: The nurse, while taking the information and collecting data, begins to hypothesize possible explanations of the data and then realizes all diagnoses are only tentative until they are verified. The client and family should be included in the beginning and also at the end of the diagnostic process to verify the nurse's diagnoses.
Rationale 3: Both novices and experienced nurses should consult appropriate resources whenever in doubt about a diagnosis; that is not what is described in the scenario.
Rationale 4: Diagnoses should be based on patterns and behavior over time, not an isolated incident.