A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgement about a patient's response to a health condition, written with a NANDA-I approved label. The taxonomy organises diagnoses into 13 domains such as activity/rest, nutrition and safety/protection. Use the domain tables below to find the label that matches your assessment data.
NANDA-I organises diagnoses into 13 domains, each divided into classes. Searching by domain is much faster than scanning an alphabetical list, because your assessment already tells you which domain the problem sits in.
| Domain | Covers | Frequently used diagnoses |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Health promotion | Awareness of wellbeing and health management | Ineffective Health Maintenance, Readiness for Enhanced Health Management |
| 2. Nutrition | Intake, digestion, absorption, hydration | Imbalanced Nutrition: Less Than Body Requirements, Deficient Fluid Volume, Excess Fluid Volume, Risk for Unstable Blood Glucose |
| 3. Elimination and exchange | Urinary, gastrointestinal, respiratory exchange | Impaired Urinary Elimination, Constipation, Diarrhoea, Impaired Gas Exchange |
| 4. Activity/rest | Sleep, activity, energy, cardiopulmonary response | Activity Intolerance, Impaired Physical Mobility, Disturbed Sleep Pattern, Decreased Cardiac Output, Fatigue |
| 5. Perception/cognition | Attention, orientation, cognition, communication | Acute Confusion, Chronic Confusion, Deficient Knowledge, Impaired Verbal Communication |
| 6. Self-perception | Self-concept, self-esteem, body image | Disturbed Body Image, Situational Low Self-Esteem, Hopelessness |
| 7. Role relationships | Caregiving, family, role performance | Impaired Parenting, Caregiver Role Strain, Interrupted Family Processes |
| 8. Sexuality | Sexual function and reproduction | Ineffective Sexuality Pattern, Ineffective Childbearing Process |
| 9. Coping/stress tolerance | Trauma response, coping, neurobehavioural stress | Anxiety, Fear, Ineffective Coping, Grieving, Post-Trauma Syndrome |
| 10. Life principles | Values, beliefs, spiritual congruence | Spiritual Distress, Decisional Conflict, Moral Distress |
| 11. Safety/protection | Infection, injury, violence, thermoregulation | Risk for Infection, Risk for Falls, Impaired Skin Integrity, Risk for Aspiration, Hyperthermia |
| 12. Comfort | Physical, environmental and social comfort | Acute Pain, Chronic Pain, Nausea, Impaired Comfort |
| 13. Growth/development | Age-appropriate growth and development | Risk for Delayed Development |
Problem-focused. Label + related to (etiology) + as evidenced by (defining characteristics).
Impaired Physical Mobility related to left-sided hemiparesis as evidenced by inability to bear weight and requirement of two-person transfer assistance.
Risk. Label + as evidenced by risk factors. There is no "related to" and no signs and symptoms, because the problem has not occurred.
Risk for Falls as evidenced by unsteady gait, history of two falls in six months and current use of a benzodiazepine.
Health promotion. Label + as evidenced by the patient's expressed desire.
Readiness for Enhanced Health Management as evidenced by the patient's expressed desire to manage blood pressure through diet and exercise.
| Diagnosis | Typical related factors | Defining characteristics to document |
|---|---|---|
| Impaired Gas Exchange | Alveolar-capillary membrane changes, ventilation-perfusion imbalance | Abnormal ABGs, hypoxaemia, restlessness, cyanosis, abnormal breathing pattern |
| Ineffective Airway Clearance | Excessive secretions, retained secretions, artificial airway | Adventitious breath sounds, ineffective cough, dyspnoea |
| Decreased Cardiac Output | Altered contractility, altered heart rate or rhythm, altered preload | Dysrhythmias, oedema, fatigue, S3 sound, altered blood pressure |
| Acute Pain | Injury agents (biological, chemical, physical) | Self-report using a standardised scale, guarding, facial grimacing, altered vital signs |
| Deficient Fluid Volume | Active fluid loss, insufficient intake | Decreased urine output, dry mucous membranes, tachycardia, decreased skin turgor |
| Excess Fluid Volume | Compromised regulatory mechanism, excess sodium intake | Oedema, weight gain, crackles, jugular venous distension |
| Impaired Skin Integrity | Pressure over bony prominence, moisture, shear | Disrupted epidermis, destruction of skin layers |
| Risk for Infection | Invasive devices, immunosuppression, chronic illness | Risk factors only |
| Anxiety | Threat to health status, situational crisis, unmet needs | Restlessness, expressed apprehension, increased heart rate |
| Deficient Knowledge | Insufficient information or interest in learning | Inaccurate follow-through, inaccurate statements about the regimen |
| Impaired Physical Mobility | Neuromuscular or musculoskeletal impairment, pain | Limited range of motion, gait changes, requirement for assistance |
| Risk for Falls | Altered gait, sedating medication, history of falls | Risk factors only |
| Imbalanced Nutrition: Less Than Body Requirements | Inability to ingest or absorb nutrients | Weight below ideal range, insufficient intake, weakness |
| Disturbed Sleep Pattern | Environmental barriers, interruptions | Reported difficulty sleeping, dissatisfaction with sleep |
| Ineffective Tissue Perfusion (peripheral) | Diabetes mellitus, sedentary lifestyle, vascular disease | Absent or diminished pulses, altered skin characteristics, delayed capillary refill |
Once the label is chosen, the rest of the care plan follows mechanically: the etiology drives the interventions, and the defining characteristics become the things you re-measure at evaluation. Work through complete worked examples in our nursing care plan examples guide, or review the underlying method in the nursing process explained.
Stuck matching your assessment data to the right label? Our nurse writers offer care plan and clinical documentation support built around your own rubric.
Problem-focused (an existing undesirable response), risk (vulnerability to a response that has not occurred), and health promotion (readiness to improve wellbeing). Some references add syndrome diagnoses, which cluster several related diagnoses.
The current NANDA-I taxonomy contains more than 260 approved diagnoses across 13 domains, and the list is revised on a multi-year cycle. Always confirm against the edition your programme requires.
No. The label must come from the approved NANDA-I taxonomy. What you write yourself is the etiology and the evidence that follow the label.
Defining characteristics are the observable signs and symptoms that prove the diagnosis. Related factors are the causes or contributors that go after 'related to'.