The International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) in nursing: Persons with spinal-cord injury as an example

The core aim of nursing practice is to improve or maintain the person’s well-being and quality of life. The use of standardized classifications and terminologies can contribute to this aim by facilitating intra- and inter-professional communication. Therefore, it is important to explore approaches that enhance common use of the current standard classifications of all health-care professions. The overall objective of this doctoral thesis was to investigate whether the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) is a practicable and useful classification for nurses - using spinal-cord injury (SCI) nursing as an example. This doctoral thesis comprises the research, results and conclusions of two original studies published in the nursing journal “Journal of Advanced Nursing” first authored by the doctoral candidate. The objective of the first study was to identify the conceptual and practical relationships between the inter-professional ICF and the nursing-specific NANDA-I Taxonomy II for nursing diagnoses. The specific research questions were: (1) What are the commonalities and differences between the conceptional frameworks and assessment principles of the ICF and the NANDA-I Taxonomy II? and (2) Can the two classifications serve as a combined approach in SCI nursing practice? The discussion of the conceptual and practical relationships between the ICF and the NANDA-I Taxonomy II is based on (1) the most recently published descriptions of both classifications and (2) the illustration of a SCI-specific case example presenting the combined use of both classifications. The objective of the second study was to analyse the extent to which the intervention goals of nurses when caring for persons with SCI can be expressed in the standardized language of the ICF. The specific research questions were: (1) Which problems, resources and aspects of the environment of persons with SCI relevant to nurses can be translated into the ICF language? and (2) Which problems, resources and aspects of the environment relevant to nurses are still missing in the ICF? The method used to answer these questions was a worldwide Delphi Survey with SCI nurses. The results of this doctoral thesis shed light on the use of the ICF in nursing practice. First, I discuss the commonalities and differences between the ICF and the NANDA-I Taxonomy II that should be taken into account when implementing both 10 classifications in nursing practice. Important clinical requirements that are exclusive to nursing can be met with the NANDA-I Taxonomy II. The application of the ICF helps nurses communicate abbreviated nursing issues with other health professionals in a common language. A combined application of the ICF and the NANDA-I Taxonomy II is valuable, and they can complement each other to enhance the quality of clinical teamwork and nursing practice. Second, I provide a list of patients’ problems, patients’ resources or aspects of their environment treated by SCI nurses that might be introduced in nursing practice for a comprehensive standardized documentation and for a better exchange of information in a common language with other health professionals. Third, I show the strengths and weaknesses of the ICF when used in nursing care specific to SCI and provide evidence for the update and future revisions of the ICF. For example, I propose to add two qualifiers, one for “Risk for” and one for “Resource for” to the existing qualifier scale. Several recommendations for future research are based on the results of this doctoral thesis. First, there is a need to continue exploring the simultaneous use of the ICF and NANDA-I Taxonomy II. A complete linking of both classifications could reveal their commonalities and differences in a more detailed way and identify all missing elements in the ICF for nursing purposes. Second, the list of patients’ problems, patients’ resources or aspects of their environment treated by SCI nurses should be validated in different nursing settings (e.g. acute hospital care, rehabilitative care and community care). This list should also be compared with the existing Comprehensive ICF Core Sets for SCI in the early post-acute context and long-term context. Third, the personal factors identified should be taken into account when developing the ICF component Personal Factors.