Nursing Diagnosis
A diagnosis is made after assessment data are interpreted. Nursing diagnoses in hospitals and long-term care facilities provide written documentation of the client's status and serve as a framework for the plan of care that follows. The diagnoses relate directly to nutrition when the pattern of nutrition and metabolism is the problem. Other nursing diagnoses, while not specific for nutrition, may involve nutrition as part of the plan, such as teaching the patient how to increase fiber intake to relieve the nursing diagnosis of constipation. Box 1.6 lists nursing diagnoses with nutritional significance.