An evaluation of the utility of the home health care classification for categorizing patient problems and nursing interventions from the hospital setting

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the utility of the Home Health Care Classification for categorizing patient problems and nursing interventions from the hospital setting. The data set comprised 5,844 problem terms and 20,055 interventions terms. All terms could be categorized using the Nursing Components and Major Categories for Nursing Diagnoses and Interventions. A total of 1,767 (30.2%) patient problem terms could be placed into Major Nursing Diagnosis categories, but not subcategories even though there were subcategories related to the major category. All intervention terms whether they were classified at the Intervention Category or Subcategory could be coded according to Type of Nursing Action. These findings demonstrate that the Home Health Care Classification, at the level of Nursing Components and Major Categories, was domain complete for the data set. The fact that not all terms could be classified according to the existing subcategories suggests some areas for future development, but is also a reflection of the level of detail expressed in the data set itself The results suggest that the Home Care Classification will be adequate and appropriate for categorizing problems and interventions across settings for the next phases of the research project. © 1997, The authors.