Strengths of Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC)

Strengths of Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC)

1. Comprehensive Nursing Interventions Classification NIC includes the full range of nursing interventions from general practice and specialty areas. Interventions include physiological and psychosocial; illness treatment and prevention; health promotion; those for individuals, families and communities; and indirect care. Both independent and collaborative interventions are included; they can be used in any practice setting regardless of philosophical orientation.
2. Research based The research, begun in 1987, uses a multi-method approach; methods include content analysis, questionnaire survey to experts, focus group review, similarity analysis, hierarchical clustering, multidimensional scaling, and clinical field testing.
3. Developed inductively based on existing practice Original sources include current textbooks, care planning guides, and nursing information systems from clinical practice, augmented by clinical practice expertise of team members and experts in specialty areas of practice.
4. Reflects current clinical practice and research All interventions are accompanied by a list of background readings that support the development of the intervention. All interventions have been reviewed by experts in clinical practice and by relevant clinical practice specialty organizations. A feedback process is used to incorporate suggestions from users.
5. Has easy to use organizing structure (domains, classes, interventions, activities) all domains, classes and interventions have definitions; principles have been developed to maintain consistency and cohesion within the Classification; interventions are numerically coded.
6. Uses language that is clear and clinically meaningful Throughout the work, the language most useful in clinical practice has been selected; the language reflects clarity in conceptual issues (e.g. what's an intervention versus a diagnosis or an assessment to make a diagnosis, or an outcome).
7. Has established process and structure for continued refinement The Classification continues to be developed by researchers at the College of Nursing, the University of Iowa; commitment to the project is evident by years of work and continued involvement. The continued refinement of NIC is facilitated by the Center for Nursing Classification and Clinical Effectiveness, established in the College of Nursing at the University of Iowa in 1995 by the Iowa Board of Regents.
8. Has been field tested The process of implementation was studied in five field sites representing the various settings where nursing care takes place; hundreds of other clinical and educational agencies are also implementing the Classification. Steps for implementation have been developed to assist in the change process.
9. Accessible through numerous publications In addition to the classification itself, approximately five dozen articles and chapters have been published by members of the research team since 1990. Book and article reviews and publications by others about use and value of NIC attest to the significance of the work.
10. Linked to NANDA nursing diagnosis, Omaha system problems, NOC outcome, RAP in long term care, OASIS for home health A second edition book linking NOC outcomes and NIC interventions to NANDA diagnoses is available from Mosby. Other linkages are available in monograph form from the Center for Nursing Classification and Clinical Effectiveness.
11. Recipient of national recognition NIC is recognized by the American Nurses Association, is included in the National Library of Medicine’s Metathesaurus for a Unified Medical Language, is included in indexes of CINAHL, is listed by JCAHO as one classification that can be used to meet the standard on uniform data, is included in Alternative Link’s ABC codes for reimbursement by alternative providers, is registered in HL7, and included in SNOMED CT.
12. Developed at same site as outcomes classification The Nursing Outcomes Classification (NOC) of patient outcomes sensitive to nursing practice has also been developed at Iowa; both NIC and NOC are housed in the Center for Nursing Classification and Clinical Effectiveness and the work on the two classifications is coordinated.
13. Included in a growing number of vendor software clinical information systems  The Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED) has included NIC in its multidisciplinary record system. Several vendors have licensed NIC for inclusion in their software, targeted at both hospital and community settings, as well as practitioners in either general and specialty practice.
14. Translated into several languages Although NIC has been developed for applicability to nursing in the United States, nurses in several other countries are finding the Classification useful. Translations are complete or in process for the following languages: Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Icelandic, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Posted in: NANDA, NANDA Nursing Diagnosis, NIC, Nursing Interventions