Question

In the following examples, which nurses are making nursing diagnostic errors? (Select all that apply.)

1 The nurse who listens to lung sounds after a patient reports "difficulty breathing"
2 The nurse who considers conflicting cues in deciding which diagnostic label to choose
3 The nurse assessing the edema in a patient's lower leg who is unsure how to assess the severity of edema
4 The nurse who identifies a diagnosis on the basis of a single defining characteristic

Answer 1

Nurses making diagnostic errors include those who base a diagnosis on a single defining characteristic and those unsure of how to assess severity of conditions. Proper assessments and critical analysis of multiple data points are crucial for accurate diagnosis.

Step-by-step explanation:

In the given scenarios, the nurses who may be making nursing diagnostic errors are the ones who are not comprehensively assessing the situation or are reaching conclusions too quickly. Specifically:

• The nurse who identifies a diagnosis on the basis of a single defining characteristic is likely making a diagnostic error because a thorough assessment should include multiple indicators.
• The nurse assessing the edema in a patient's lower leg who is unsure how to assess the severity of edema may also be at risk of error, because proper assessment requires knowledge of grading the severity accurately.

Conversely, the nurse who listens to lung sounds after a patient reports "difficulty breathing" and the nurse who considers conflicting cues in deciding which diagnostic label to choose are following proper diagnostic procedures. The former is gathering additional data to inform the diagnosis, and the latter is critical thinking through complex information, which is essential in making an accurate nursing diagnosis.

Remember, diagnosing medical conditions such as asthma, pneumonia, COPD, or lung cancer requires synthesizing multiple pieces of data rather than relying on a single sign or symptom.