ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the frequency with which nursing interventions according to domains and classes, and core nursing interventions of the Nursing Intervention Classification (NIC) were performed by nurses on orthopedic surgery nursing units. METHOD: For this purpose, the third edition of NIC was used. Of the 486 nursing interventions, 424 were selected at 75% consent by experts. Data were collected from June, 2003 to July, 2003 5 hospitals and 69 nurses(return rate : 95.8%) in Gwang-ju and Chonnam region. 5 point Likert scale describing frequency was used. RESULTS: The most frequently performed domain was 'physiological : basic' (2.97+/- .60), followed by 'health system' (2.65+/- .65) and 'physiological : complex' (2.55+/- .46). The most frequently performed class was 'activity and exercise management' (3.82+/- .89), followed by 'immobility management' (3.64+/- .62), 'skin/wound management' (3.41+/- .60), 'physical comfort promotion' (3.23+/- .68) and 'thermoregulation' (3.01+/- .91). The most frequently performed nursing intervention was 'medication administration' (4.96+/- .21), followed by 'medication administration : intravenous' (4.93+/- .31), 'analgesic administration' (4.91+/- .51), 'pain management' (4.87+/- .34) and 'medication administration : intramuscular' (4.78+/- .68). CONCLUSION: In conclusion, the third edition of NIC was found to be a general and comprehensive classification system for application on orthopedic surgery nursing units. These findings will help in building of a standardized language for orthopedic surgery nursing units and enhance the quality of nursing care.