International Classification for Nursing Practice Catalogues

As the number of nursing concepts in the International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP) is steadily growing, the terminology becomes more complicated to use in nursing practice. Accordingly, since 2008, the International Council of Nurses (ICN) has committed to create ICNP Catalogues. Catalogues are defined as a clinically relevant subset of ICNP pre-coordinated nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes. Currently there are 12 ICNP Catalogues developed with multiple sources of content, such as evidence-based practice recommendations or guidelines, care plans, order sets, minimum data sets, clinical templates, expert opinions, and other multidisciplinary terminologies. Catalogue development has been directed by terminology users and nurse experts (such as clinicians) as well as harmonization agreements between ICN and World Health Organization Family of International Classifications, between ICN and International Health Terminology Standards Development Organisation (IHTSDO), and between ICN and Saba Care. The number of unique pre-coordinated nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes in each Catalogue ranges from 16 to 345 concepts. One catalogue can be nested in another catalogue. For example, 54 concepts selected from the Pain Management Catalogue can be found in the Palliative Care Catalogue consisting of multiple phenomena of concerns. It is anticipated that ICNP Catalogues will facilitate documentation of nursing care at the point of care and support evidence based practice in the electronic health records (EHR). As more catalogues are embedded into EHR systems, it is also possible to evaluate nursing practice across settings or specialties. The current state of ICN Catalogue development will be discussed in greater detail along with strategies for implementing multiple catalogues in practice.