A nursing diagnosis based model: guiding nursing practice.
Fiscal uncertainty, anxiety about nursing retention, and public scrutiny characterize the hospital milieu. During times such as these, introducing a conceptual model may appear inpractical and untimely. However, the conceptual model at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital has demonstrated many practical applications. It guides nursing practice and provides a framework for quality assurance, documentation of nursing care, and education of nurses in the hospital. Future plans include using the model as a basis for developing a computerized care planning system and a method for cost accounting for nursing. The authors describe how the model serves to unify, give direction, simplify, and improve nursing practice.