Types of Nursing Intervention

For a working nurse, the Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) dictates the various processes and actions that a nurse takes in the line of duty. Developed through the work of more than 40 national nursing organizations, the NIC consists of 542 specific interventions for professional nurses. These types can be lumped into larger categories.

Physiological: Basic

• The basic physiological domain of the NIC contains a variety of topical interventions dealing with such areas as activity and exercise management, elimination management, immobility management, nutrition support, physical comfort promotion and self-care facilitation.

Physiological: Complex

• The complex physiological area of the NIC deals with care that supports homeostatic regulation. Areas under the umbrella of "physiological: complex" include acid-base management, cerebral edema, management, circulatory care and mechanical assist device.

Behavorial

• Another domain within the NIC system is behavioral intervention. These deal with care supporting psychosocial functioning and changes in lifestyle. Behavior modification, learning readiness enhancement and health education fall under this domain.

Family

• Care that supports maintenance of the family unit falls under the family domain. This particular domain deals primarily in birth and reproductive care, including interventions for Caesarian section care, electronic fetal monitoring and high-risk pregnancy care.

Safety

• The safety domain of the NIC is for interventions that deal with harm prevention. One of the most common interventions within the safety domain is environmental management, which deals with monitoring and manipulating physical surroundings to maintain safety.

Health System

• The domain that deals with proper use of the health-care system is the aptly named health system domain. In this domain, interventions include proper use of hospital and clinical protocol, proper respiratory and medical history assessment, and the following of all rules and regulations to avoid legal issues.

Community

• For more widespread interventions, the community domain deals with care that affects a larger community. These group-based interventions include substance-abuse therapy, support for those involved in abusive relationships, the work of home health nurses and classroom-based health education.