title: Describing parish nurse practice using the Nursing Minimum Data Set.
abstract: The purpose of this study was to describe parish nurses practice using the framework of the Nursing Minimum Data Set (NMDS). Nineteen parish nurses practicing in 22 faith communities collected data using standardized nursing classification systems (North American Nursing Diagnosis Association [NANDA] Taxonomy and Nursing Intervention Classification [NIC]). A database was developed for quantitative analysis. Nurses recorded 1,557 encounters for services provided to 776 individuals. Over the period studied, the nurses recorded 1,730 nursing diagnoses and 3,451 nursing interventions. The most frequent nursing diagnoses and nursing interventions are reported and emphasized health promotion and illness prevention. The parish nurse roles of educator, counselor, referral agent, and advocate/facilitator, described in the literature, were consistent with the findings of this study. A focus group of the parish nurses provided validation of the results of the database descriptions of practice. The nurses also identified issues related to the use of NANDA and NIC in documenting practice.
authors.affiliation: Marquette University, College of Nursing, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA. amy.coenen@marquette.edu
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Coenen
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Weis
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Schank
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Matheus
mesh_terms: D002835:Christianity; D003152:Community Health Nursing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D017144:Focus Groups; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009732:Nursing Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009733:Nursing Diagnosis / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010327:Pastoral Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012068:Religion and Medicine