North America Nursing Diagnosis Association

The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) went international in 2002 and changed its name to NANDA International (NANDA-I). NANDA-I is a global network of nurses whose purpose is to define, promote and continue working on terminology that reflects nurses' clinical judgments--also known as nursing diagnoses. Establishing an internationally recognized standard set of terms nurses can use to reflect their knowledge to patients, colleagues, members of other disciplines and the public provides many advantages in the health care industry, according to NANDA-I.

History

• NANDA was spurred by the First National Conference held by the National Conference Group in St. Louis, Missouri in 1973. In 2002, it changed its name to NANDA-I to accurately reflect the organization's growing international community and its intention of creating standards in terminology that are recognized and respected worldwide. Since its inception, NANDA has approved over 200 nursing diagnoses for use in clinical settings, testing and refinement.

Purpose and Mission

• NANDA-I openly hopes to become the organization behind recognized global standards for nursing diagnoses in clinical practices and to determine interventions and outcomes. NANDA-I believes establishing evidence-based, standard terminology will help ensure patient safety by providing consistently used terminology that accurately reflects nurses' knowledge and experience.

Administration

• NANDA-I is organized by a board of directors and committees. The Board of Directors establishes administrative policies; develops and implements strategies to accomplish NANDA-I's purposes and mission; provides reports and prepares audits; cares for the properties, records and securities of the association; and provides for the bonding of Board officials.

  Four main committees comprise NANDA-I, headed by at least one director. These are the Taxonomy Committee, the Diagnosis Development Committee, the Informatics Committee, and the Research and Education Committee.

NANDA Foundation

• The NANDA Foundation is governed and managed separately from NANDA-I. As outlined by its website, the Foundation is designed to promote the development, use and refinement nursing diagnoses on a standardized level; to promote studying the relationship of nursing diagnoses to patient care, interventions and outcomes; and to promote nursing diagnoses usage in all branches of nursing, including administration, practice and education. The NANDA Foundation also awards grants for the development, refinement and validation of nursing diagnoses.

Membership

• NANDA-I offers a variety of membership and fee levels to nurses and nursing students. Fees are dependent on the member's country of residence and status. Fees for each country are based on the World Health Organization's classification of that country. For instance, regular members in a Class I Country pay an annual fee of $105; those in a Class II country pay $55 annually; and those in a Class III country pay $40 annually.

  Those holding a regular membership must fulfill their country's requirements for professional nursing licensure. Associate members are vendors and organizations related to nursing education, practice, research or representation. Retired members are those who, as it sounds, have retired from nursing practice, and student members are verified nursing students. Regular and retired members can vote, hold office or serve on committees, but associate and student members cannot.