ABSTRACT
The development of standards and guidelines of rehabilitation nursing has been the major concerns for providing better nursing to the rehabilitation clients. As the patients with stroke and spinal cord injuries are the most prevalent physical disabilities in Korea, this study focussed on the nursing diagnoses of these two groups of patients. In order to identify the nursing diagnoses frequently used in their practice for the patients with stroke and spinal cord injuries, a survey was done with the questionnaire form developed by the research team. The surveyee were the staff nurses working at rehabilitation wards more than 2 years from 8 general hospitals in Korea. They identified and set the priorities of 13 nursing diagnoses from 79 stroke patients and 10 nursing diagnoses from 35 patients with spinal cord injuries during the periods from March 1 to June 2, 1999. The identified nursing diagnoses for the stroke patients are impaired physical immobility, sensory-perceptual alterations, activity intolerance, self -care deficit, altered defecation, altered urination, risk for injury, unilateral neglect, impaired skin integrity, altered thought processes, pain, altered health maintenance, dysreflexia. The identified nursing diagnoses for spinal cord injuries are altered urination, altered defecation, impaired skin integrity, pain, risk for injury, reflex incontinence, impaired physical immobility, self-care deficit, activity intolerance, knowledge deficit.