🩺 NANDA Nursing Diagnoses: A Complete Guide

Learn all about NANDA-I Nursing Diagnoses 2024–2026: their history, definition, types, domains, and how to use them, with examples and resources.

History of NANDA Diagnoses

What Are NANDA Diagnoses?

NANDA diagnoses are clinical tools that describe human responses to actual or potential health problems. They are designed to improve communication among healthcare professionals and support high-quality care through a standardized language.

“A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment about individual, family, or community responses to actual or potential health problems.” – NANDA-I

RESOURCES: Download the guides to learn more about NANDA diagnoses and NANDA Taxonomy II.


The History of NANDA

The history of NANDA began in the 1970s, when a group of nurses in the United States identified the need to standardize diagnostic language in nursing practice. This initial effort led to the founding of NANDA International, which has since become a globally recognized organization.

  • 1973: NANDA was founded to address the need for a standardized nursing language.
  • 1982: The first official list of nursing diagnoses was published.
  • 2002: The organization changed its name to NANDA International, reflecting its global reach.
  • Today: More than 277 diagnoses are classified in Taxonomy II and used worldwide.
History of NANDA

The History of NANDA International

NANDA International was founded in the 1980s to organize and standardize nursing diagnoses. Since its creation, it has worked to provide a clear framework that allows nurses to identify diagnoses, develop care plans, and improve communication among healthcare professionals. NANDA has carried out regular revisions that reflect changes in patients' care needs. These revisions have been essential to keeping diagnostic content relevant and applicable in clinical practice.

Recent Changes to Diagnoses

The latest updates to NANDA diagnoses (2024–2026) show a clear emphasis on adding new diagnoses that address current health issues. This evolving approach keeps nursing terminology aligned with advances in medicine, changes in society, and emerging public health challenges.

Newly Added Diagnoses

Revised and Retired Diagnoses

With each revision, NANDA also removes diagnoses that are no longer relevant or have been incorporated into broader categories. For example, diagnoses such as "disturbed body perception" have been revised to reflect new trends in patient-centered care. This helps nursing practice remain adaptable and responsive to health needs.

Updates include revised descriptions and more precise language, which are essential for accurate interpretation and use in clinical practice. NANDA also seeks to introduce diagnoses in response to global health trends, reflecting an approach that considers patients' cultural and social diversity.

Integrating NANDA with NIC and NOC

Integrating NANDA diagnoses with the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) and Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) provides a strong framework for nursing practice. Together, these systems allow professionals to take a structured approach to patient care.

Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC)

The Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) is essential because it provides a standardized system for classifying the actions nurses can take in response to NANDA diagnoses. Through a shared, systematic language, NIC helps ensure that care is consistent and effective.

Examples of Common Interventions

Interventions can vary widely depending on the specific diagnosis. Examples include:

  • Self-care education: Teaching patients how to manage their health, especially when living with chronic conditions.
  • Pain management: Techniques for relieving acute and chronic pain through medication and nonpharmacological strategies.
  • Infection prevention: Actions intended to minimize patients' risk of infection, such as hygiene protocols and wound care.
  • Emotional support: Interventions that provide psychological support, especially during bereavement or terminal illness.
  • Nutritional support: Planning diets and monitoring the patient's nutritional status.

Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC)

The Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) makes it possible to measure the success of interventions based on NANDA diagnoses. Through a structured approach, NOC provides clear expectations for patient progress.

Measuring Success and Outcomes

Outcomes are evaluated using indicators that allow professionals to assess the impact of their interventions. These indicators may include:

  • Overall health status: Assessing how the patient's health has improved through specific interventions.
  • Patient satisfaction: Measuring the patient's perception of the quality of care received and their own involvement in that care.
  • Treatment adherence: Assessing how closely the patient follows treatment and self-care recommendations.
  • Symptom reduction: Assessing decreases in the signs and symptoms present at the start of treatment.

By combining these systems, nursing professionals can gain a clear, comprehensive picture of a patient's needs, enabling more effective care focused on the person's well-being.


NANDA Taxonomy II

NANDA Taxonomy II

NANDA Taxonomy II has three levels: domains, classes, and nursing diagnoses.

1. Domains

A domain is a sphere of activity, study, or interest (Roget, 1980). The taxonomy contains 13 NANDA domains. Each domain is organized into different classes.

2. Classes

A class is a subdivision of a larger group: a division of people or things by quality, rank, or grade (Roget, 1980). The taxonomy contains 48 classes. The classes group nursing diagnoses together.

3. Nursing Diagnosis

A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment about an individual's, family's, group's, or community's human response to actual health problems or life processes, or vulnerability to that response. A nursing diagnosis provides the basis for selecting nursing interventions to achieve outcomes for which the nurse is accountable (approved at the ninth conference, 1990).


NANDA Domains and Diagnostic Classes

NANDA diagnoses are organized into 13 domains, each divided into specific classes. These categories help healthcare professionals identify and classify human responses in a structured way.

Domain Classes

1. Health Promotion

 Health awareness, Health management

2. Nutrition

 Ingestion, Digestion, Absorption, Metabolism, Hydration

3. Elimination and Exchange

 Urinary function, Gastrointestinal function, Integumentary function, Respiratory function

4. Activity and Rest

 Sleep/rest, Activity/exercise, Energy balance, Cardiovascular/pulmonary responses, Self-care

5. Perception and Cognition

 Attention, Orientation, Sensation/perception, Cognition, Communication

6. Self-Perception

 Self-concept, Self-esteem, Body image

7. Role Relationship

 Caregiving roles, Family relationships, Role performance

8. Sexuality

 Sexual identity, Sexual function, Reproduction

9. Coping and Stress Tolerance

 Post-trauma responses, Coping responses, Neurobehavioral stress

10. Life Principles

 Values, Beliefs, Value/belief/action congruence

11. Safety and Protection

 Infection, Physical injury, Violence, Environmental hazards, Defensive processes, Thermoregulation

12. Comfort

 Physical comfort, Environmental comfort, Social comfort, Psychological comfort

13. Growth and Development

 Growth, Development

Examples of Diagnoses by Domain

The following examples illustrate some key domains:

  • Domain 1: Health Promotion

    Diagnosis: Readiness for enhanced health management.

  • Domain 2: Nutrition

    Diagnosis: Imbalanced nutrition: more than body requirements, related to poor eating habits.

  • Domain 4: Activity and Rest

    Diagnosis: Disturbed sleep pattern related to stress.

  • Domain 11: Safety and Protection

    Diagnosis: Risk for infection related to recent surgery.

The 5 Types of NANDA Nursing Diagnoses

NANDA diagnoses are classified into five main types, each focusing on a different aspect of human responses to health problems. Each type is described below with practical examples.

Example: Chronic pain syndrome (00255), which includes or implies other nursing diagnoses such as Disturbed sleep pattern (00198), Social isolation (00053), Fatigue (00093), or Impaired physical mobility (00085).

Types of NANDA Diagnoses


Complete List of NANDA-I Nursing Diagnoses 2024–2026

DOMAIN 1: HEALTH PROMOTION

Awareness of well-being or normal functioning and of the strategies used to maintain control, as well as to improve well-being or normal functioning.

Class 1. Health Awareness:

Recognition of normal functioning and well-being.

Class 2. Health Management

Identifying, controlling, carrying out, and integrating activities to maintain overall health and well-being.

DOMAIN 2: NUTRITION

Activities of taking in, assimilating, and using nutrients to maintain and repair tissues and produce energy.

Class 1. Ingestion:

Taking food or nutrients into the body.

Class 2. Digestion:

Physical and chemical processes that convert food into substances suitable for absorption and assimilation.

Class 3. Absorption:

The transport of nutrients to body tissues.

Class 4. Metabolism:

Chemical and physical processes that occur in living organisms and cells to develop and use protoplasm, produce waste and energy, and release energy for all vital processes.

Class 5. Hydration:

The intake and absorption of fluids and electrolytes.

DOMAIN 3: ELIMINATION AND EXCHANGE

Secretion and excretion of the body's waste products.

Class 1. Urinary Function:

The process of secreting, reabsorbing, and excreting urine.

Class 2. Gastrointestinal Function:

The absorption and excretion of the end products of digestion.

Class 3. Integumentary Function:

The process of secretion and excretion through the skin.

Class 4. Respiratory Function:

The process of gas exchange and elimination of the end products of metabolism.

DOMAIN 4: ACTIVITY AND REST

Production, conservation, expenditure, or balance of energy resources.

Class 1. Sleep and Rest

Sleep, rest, relaxation, or inactivity.

Class 2. Activity and Exercise:

Moving parts of the body (mobility), working, or performing actions, often, though not always, against resistance.

Class 3. Energy Balance:

A state of dynamic balance between the intake and expenditure of resources.

Class 4. Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Responses:

Cardiopulmonary mechanisms that support activity and rest.

Class 5. Self-Care:

The ability to perform activities to care for one's own body and bodily functions.

DOMAIN 5: PERCEPTION AND COGNITION

The human information-processing system, including attention, orientation, sensation, perception, cognition, and communication.

Class 1. Attention:

Mental readiness to notice or observe.

Class 2. Orientation:

Awareness of time, place, and person.

Class 3. Sensation and Perception:

Receiving information through touch, taste, smell, sight, hearing, and kinesthesia, and understanding sensory data to identify, associate, or recognize patterns.

Class 4. Cognition:

The use of memory, learning, thought, problem-solving, abstraction, judgment, insight, intellectual ability, calculation, and language.

Class 5. Communication:

Sending and receiving verbal and nonverbal information.

DOMAIN 6: SELF-PERCEPTION

Awareness of oneself, one's family, or one's group.

Class 1. Self-Concept:

An individual's or family's perceptions of the whole self.

Class 2. Self-Esteem:

Evaluation of one's own or one's family's worth, capabilities, significance, and success.

Class 3. Body Image

A mental image of one's own body

DOMAIN 7: ROLE RELATIONSHIP

Positive and negative connections or associations among individuals or groups, and the ways in which those connections are expressed.

Class 1. Caregiving Roles

Socially expected behavior patterns of people who provide care and are not healthcare professionals

Class 2. Family Relationships:

Associations among people who are related biologically or by choice.

Class 3. Role Performance:

The quality of functioning in relation to socially expected behavior patterns.

DOMAIN 8: SEXUALITY

Sexual identity, sexual function, and reproduction.

Class 1. Sexual Identity:

Being a particular person in relation to sexuality or gender.

Class 2. Sexual Function:

The capacity or ability to participate in sexual activities.

Class 3. Reproduction:

Any process through which human beings are produced.

DOMAIN 9: COPING AND STRESS TOLERANCE

Dealing with life events and processes.

Class 1. Post-Trauma Responses:

Reactions that occur after physical or psychological trauma.

Class 2. Coping Responses:

Processes for managing environmental stress.

Class 3. Neurobehavioral Responses:

Behavioral responses that reflect nervous system and brain function.

DOMAIN 10: LIFE PRINCIPLES

Principles underlying conduct, thoughts, and behavior concerning acts, customs, or institutions considered true or intrinsically valuable.

Class 1. Values:

Identifying and ranking preferred modes of conduct or end states.

Class 2. Beliefs:

Opinions, expectations, or judgments about acts, customs, or institutions considered true or intrinsically valuable.

Class 3. Value, Belief, and Action Congruence:

Correspondence or balance achieved among values, beliefs, and actions.

DOMAIN 11: SAFETY AND PROTECTION

Freedom from danger, physical injury, or immune system impairment; prevention of loss and preservation of safety and security.

Class 1. Infection:

Host responses following invasion by pathogens.

Class 2. Physical Injury:

Bodily injury or damage.

Class 3. Violence:

The use of excessive force or power with the intent to cause injury or abuse.

Class 4. Environmental Hazards:

Sources of danger in the immediate environment.

Class 5. Defensive Processes:

Processes through which the self is protected from external influences.

Class 6. Thermoregulation:

Physiological processes that regulate heat and energy in the body to protect the organism.

DOMAIN 12: COMFORT

A sense of mental, physical, or social well-being or relief.

Class 1. Physical Comfort

A sense of well-being, relief, or freedom from pain.

Class 2. Environmental Comfort:

A sense of well-being or relief in or with one's surroundings.

Class 3. Social Comfort

A sense of well-being or relief in one's social situation.

Class 4. Psychological Comfort

A sense of mental well-being or peace.

DOMAIN 13: GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Age-appropriate increases in physical dimensions, maturation of organ systems, or progression through developmental stages.

Class 1. Growth:

An increase in physical dimensions or maturation of organ systems.

Class 2. Development:

Progression or regression through an established sequence of stages in life.


The PES Format for NANDA Diagnoses

The PES format is a tool that helps structure nursing diagnoses. PES is an acronym for three main components: Problem (P), Etiology (E) and Signs and Symptoms (S).

PES Format

How Does the PES Format Work?

The PES format is used to structure diagnoses clearly and understandably:

A Complete PES Example

Diagnosis: Impaired physical mobility

PES format:

  • P: Impaired physical mobility
  • E: Related to a hip fracture
  • S: As evidenced by difficulty walking and pain with movement

Common Mistakes When Using the PES Format

Avoiding these common mistakes will improve diagnostic accuracy:


Practical Example: Applying NANDA Diagnoses

This practical example shows how to identify and structure a diagnosis using NANDA domains, diagnosis types, and the PES format. The case focuses on a patient with mobility and pain-related problems.

Case Description

A 65-year-old male patient is admitted with a hip fracture after a fall at home. He has significant pain, difficulty moving, and a history of poorly controlled type 2 diabetes. He expresses concern about his ability to regain independence after surgery.

Relevant Findings:
  • Domain 4 (Activity and Rest): Disrupted mobility pattern.
  • Domain 11 (Safety and Protection): Risk for postoperative infection.
  • Domain 9 (Coping and Stress Tolerance): Anxiety related to recovery.

Identified Diagnoses

Care Plan

The following care plan is proposed based on the identified diagnoses:

Diagnosis Interventions Expected Outcomes
Impaired physical mobility
  • Provide daily physical therapy.
  • Administer pain medication as prescribed.
  • Monitor pain levels before and after mobilization.
  • The patient's ability to walk with assistance improves.
  • Reported pain levels decrease.
Risk for infection
  • Inspect the surgical wound daily.
  • Teach the patient about hygiene and postoperative care.
  • Monitor blood glucose levels.
  • The surgical wound heals without complications.
  • The patient maintains blood glucose within normal ranges.
Anxiety
  • Use therapeutic communication to address the patient's concerns.
  • Provide clear information about the recovery process.
  • Offer guided relaxation techniques.
  • The patient shows reduced anxiety levels.
  • The patient feels more confident about recovery.

More Examples of NANDA Nursing Diagnoses

NANDA nursing diagnoses cover a broad range of categories, allowing nursing professionals to address different aspects of a patient's health. The following are specific examples of diagnoses that can be used in clinical practice.

Nursing Diagnoses by Medical Condition

Nursing diagnoses can be grouped according to the diseases affecting patients. This helps nurses identify specific areas for intervention and develop more effective care plans. For example:

Risk for Infection and Other Risks

Diagnoses that identify the risk for infection are crucial to preventing complications in vulnerable patients. This includes specific interventions to reduce those risks.

Fall Risk Factors

Risk for falls is an important diagnosis, especially for older adults or patients with conditions affecting mobility. Specific examples include:

Risk for Pressure Injury

Patients with limited mobility are at high risk of developing pressure injuries. Examples of diagnoses include:

Common Problems: Acute and Chronic Pain

Whether acute or chronic, pain is a common response affecting many patients. Pain-related diagnoses are essential to effective pain management.

Wellness and Health Promotion Diagnoses

Health promotion is a vital part of nursing care. Diagnoses in this category allow nursing professionals to encourage healthy habits and overall well-being.


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) About NANDA Diagnoses

Here we answer some of the most common questions about NANDA diagnoses, their use, application, and benefits in nursing practice.

1. What are NANDA diagnoses?

NANDA diagnoses are clinical tools that describe human responses to actual or potential health problems. They are used worldwide to standardize nursing language.

2. What is the main purpose of NANDA diagnoses?

Their main purpose is to provide a standardized language that facilitates communication among healthcare professionals, improves the quality of care, and promotes evidence-based interventions.

3. How many NANDA diagnoses are currently recognized?

NANDA International currently recognizes 277 diagnoses, organized in Taxonomy II, which includes 13 domains and 48 classes.

4. What is the difference between a nursing diagnosis and a medical diagnosis?

A nursing diagnosis identifies human responses to health problems, while a medical diagnosis focuses on the disease or condition itself. For example, a medical diagnosis might be "hip fracture," while the nursing diagnosis would be "impaired physical mobility."

5. How can I learn to use NANDA diagnoses?

You can learn through official NANDA guides, dedicated training, and practice in patient assessment. Familiarizing yourself with the PES format and practical examples is also helpful.

6. Can NANDA diagnoses be used in every country?

Yes. NANDA diagnoses have an international scope. Although some institutions may adapt them to local needs, their language and structure are global.

7. What tools complement NANDA diagnoses?

NANDA diagnoses are complemented by systems such as NIC (Nursing Interventions Classification) and NOC (Nursing Outcomes Classification), which help with care planning and evaluation.

Additional Resources on NANDA Diagnoses

Here you will find supplementary materials to deepen your understanding of NANDA diagnoses, including downloadable documents, practical tools, and links to official resources.

Additional NANDA Resources

Download NANDA 2024–2026 PDFs (Free)

Document Description Link
Complete List of Diagnoses 2024–2026 Includes the 13 domains and 277 NANDA diagnoses organized by domain and class. Download PDF
NANDA Taxonomy II The history and detailed organization of NANDA Taxonomy II, including its classes and domains. Download PDF

About This Guide

NANDA diagnoses are an essential tool in modern nursing practice. They provide a standardized language that improves the quality of care, supports communication among professionals, and promotes evidence-based practice.

We hope this guide gives you a solid understanding of the key concepts, from NANDA domains and diagnosis types to the practical use of the PES format. Explore the additional resources and keep learning to refine your skills!

Ready to get started? Download the available guides to learn more about NANDA diagnoses and NANDA Taxonomy II.

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