What is a nursing intervention?
What is a nursing intervention?
Medical dictionaries define nursing interventions simply as “any act by a nurse that implements the nursing care plan.” Far from the drama-filled situations you might have envisioned, nurses perform interventions on a daily basis. Many interventions are just
part of the routine, such as turning patients to prevent bedsores, helping a patient control their pain level and assisting patients to prevent falls.
Nursing interventions are tracked using a standard classification system known as
Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC). Nurses use this classification system for communicating about interventions with other medical professionals and documenting their actions.
Nurses operate alongside physicians and other specialists on a care team who all work together to determine the interventions a particular patient needs. Nursing interventions fall into three main categories that determine which medical professionals are responsible for carrying out a patient intervention:
- Independent: A nurse can carry out these interventions on their own, without input or assistance from others. An example of an independent intervention includes educating a patient on the importance of their medication so they can administer it as prescribed.
- Dependent: These nursing interventions require an order from a physician, such as ordering the prescription for a new medication.
- Interdependent: Nurses work alongside multiple members of a care team to perform these interventions. An example of an interdependent intervention could include a patient recovering from knee surgery who is prescribed pain medication by a physician, administered medication by a nurse and given physical therapy exercises by a specialist.
Assessment vs. nursing intervention
Nursing interventions and assessments are two separate steps in a larger nursing process. Nurses follow this step-by-step procedure to provide the best care possible for their patients.
Assessment is the first step in the nursing process, according to the
American Nurses Association (ANA). Nurses need to understand a patient’s medical history, the medications they may be taking and current health condition before they can provide proper care. Assessment is when nurses gather this information and use active listening skills to talk with patients and learn more about their concerns, mental health and any changes in their condition.
Nurses use the information they gathered during assessment to inform a diagnosis and create an outcome plan for their patient. Once all this planning has been completed, interventions can take place. These are the actions nurses take to implement a patient’s care plan and help them then achieve their health goals.
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