Nursing care makes a difference. Application of the Omaha System.

Nursing classification systems enable practitioners to describe their contributions to client care. The results of this study indicated an improvement in the outcome ratings, using the Omaha System, as a result of nursing interventions for 47 clients with chronic mental illness receiving services in three academic nurse-managed centers. The Omaha System was found to be a valid and reliable nursing documentation tool for outcome and quality of care measurement for clients with mental illness. This study describes how the Omaha System was used by undergraduate nursing students who were caring for adults with mental illness in nurse-managed centers.