Primary purpose of nursing diagnosis in care planning?

• A. To perform diagnostic tests
• B. To prescribe medications
• C. To guide selection of nursing interventions to achieve patient outcomes
• D. To determine hospital stay length

Answer: (C)

The main idea is that the nursing diagnosis drives the care plan by pinpointing the patient’s actual or potential responses to health conditions that nursing care can influence, and then selecting interventions aimed at achieving specific, measurable outcomes. This ties what you do at the bedside directly to improving the patient’s situation—for example, improving comfort, safety, or functional status—so progress can be assessed and the plan adjusted as needed.

Diagnostic tests, medication prescriptions, and determining how long a patient stays in the hospital involve medical evaluation, pharmacologic decisions, and administrative factors that fall outside the nursing diagnosis-driven planning.