The nurse writes the following nursing diagnosis for a client who ...

[nenivikky]

The nurse writes the following nursing diagnosis for a client who is not taking his prescribed lithium regularly:
 
  Noncompliance with lithium therapy r/t dislike of side effects as evidenced by subtherapeutic lithium level and client statement that lithium makes his hands shake. Is the nursing diagnosis worded correctly for an actual problem?
  1. It expresses an actual client problem, the etiology, and the defining characteristics consistent with the etiology.
  2. It expresses a potential client problem and gives defining characteristics.
  3. The problem statement is accurate, but the defining characteristics are not con-sistent with the etiology given.
  4. Not enough data exist to determine an accurate problem statement.

Question 2

A client has the nursing diagnosis noncompliance with lithium therapy r/t dislike of side effects as evidenced by subtherapeutic lithium level and client statement that lithium makes his mouth dry.
 
  A correctly written outcome statement for this nursing diagnosis is:
  1. Encourage client to take lithium as prescribed despite side effects
  2. Admonish and give lab requisition for retesting lithium level in 1 week
  3. Client will list interventions for dry mouth and will take lithium daily, resulting in lithium level within therapeutic range within 1 week
  4. If client is in denial, provide information about his disorder and its treatment

[dyrone]

Answer to Question 1

ANS: 1
Option 1 is correct; all elements for a proper actual nursing diagnosis are present. 2. The diagnosis is actual; it is not a risk diagnosis. 3. The defining characteristics are consistent with the etiology. 4. Data are sufficient to select this problem statement.

Answer to Question 2

ANS: 3
An outcome statement consists of specific, measurable indicators that are used by nurses to eval-uate the results of an intervention. Only option 3 is written as an outcome statement. The other statements address interventions.