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Nursing Matters fact sheets provide quick reference information and international perspectives from the nursing profession on current health and social issues.

International Classification
for Nursing Practice(ICNP®)

July 2008

The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) is a unified nursing language system.
ICNP® is a compositional terminology for nursing practice that facilitates cross-mapping of
local terms and existing terminologies.  

Vision of  the ICNP®

ICNP® is an integral part of the global information infrastructure informing health care practice and policy to improve patient care worldwide.

Strategic goals for ICNP®

• Serve as a major force to articulate nursing’s contribution to health and health care globally.
  
  
• Promote harmonization with other widely used classifications and the work of standardization groups in health and nursing.

Elements of the ICNP®

The ICNP® can be used to represent Nursing Diagnoses (Nursing Phenomena), Nursing Interventions (Nursing Actions), and Nursing Outcomes.

Participation in ICNP® Development

	ICN encourages and facilitates participation of individuals and groups in the ongoing development and maintenance of the ICNP®.
	Nurses and organisations are encouraged to use ICNP® in clinical practice and to carry out research and development projects involving ICNP®.
	Nurses with similar interests in ICNP® are encouraged to apply to become ICN-Accredited ICNP® Research & Development Centres. Centres set their own work plan objectives and meet every two years at ICNP® Consortium meetings.
	ICN retains copyright for the ICNP®. Permission to translate, publish, reproduce and distribute is granted on a case-by-case basis. Contact the ICNP® Programme Director if you plan to use ICNP® in research, education, practice, or clinical information systems development.

 

Benefits of the ICNP®

• Establishes an international standard to facilitate description and comparison of nursing practice;
  
  
• Serves as a unifying nursing language system for international nursing based on state-of-the-art terminology standards;
  
  
• Represents nursing concepts used in local, regional, national and international practice, across specialties, languages and cultures;
  
  
• Generates information about nursing practice that will influence decision-making, education and policy in the areas of patient needs, nursing interventions, health outcomes, and resource utilization;
  
  
• Facilitates the development of nursing data sets used in research to direct policy by describing and comparing nursing care of individuals, families and communities world wide;
  
  
• Improves communication within the discipline of nursing and across other disciplines;
  
  
• Encourages nurses to reflect on their own practice and influence improvements in quality of care.

Communicating About ICNP® 

• The ICNP® Bulletin is published twice a year and is available on the ICN website in English, French and Spanish.
  
  
• Multiple translations of ICNP® are underway. Watch the website for announcements of availability of translations. A browser and translation tool is also described on the website.
  
  
• ICNP® Catalogues are being developed for application in nursing phenomena, care specialties, settings, and health conditions. See the website. website.
  
  
• The next ICNP® R&D Centres Consortium meeting will be scheduled at the ICN 24th Quadrennial Congress, 27June – 4 July 2009, Durban, South Africa.

 

For Further Information: Amy Coenen, ICNP® Programme Director FAX:  +1 414 229 6474

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