An Analysis of Nursing Diagnoses for Patients Undergoing Procedures in a Brazilian Interventional Radiology Suite LIZA DE SOUZA VIEGAS, RN, CNS; RUTH NATALIA TERESA TURRINI, RN, PhD; JOSINETE APARECIDA DA SILVA BASTOS CERULLO, RN, PhD ABSTRACT Innovations in minimally invasive surgery have led to more procedures being performed in the interventional radiology suite. It, therefore, is essential that nurses in radiology departments be competent to care for all types of patients. Use of nursing classification systems can improve care by providing standardized language for documentation. We conducted a project that involved 25 patients undergoing interventional radiology procedures between August and October 2006 in São Paulo, Brazil, to identify the most frequent North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) nursing diagnoses used and then compared the NANDA diagnoses to Perioperative Nursing Data Set diagnoses. The most frequent nursing diagnoses in the participants were anxiety, chronic pain, inefficient tissue perfusion–peripheral, deficient knowledge, and risk for falls. These results are similar to diagnoses that have been reported in outpatient centers. The NANDA and Perioperative Nurs- ing Data Set diagnoses were found to be similar. AORN J 91 (May 2010) 544-557. © AORN, Inc, 2010. doi: 10.1016/j.aorn.2009.09.032 Key words: North American Nursing Diagnosis Association, NANDA, Periopera- tive Nursing Data Set, PNDS, nursing diagnoses, interventional radiology, mini- mally invasive surgery, perioperative nursing care. T he care provided in radiology services is diverse, in part because of innovations in minimally invasive surgery. The use of robotics and microengineered instruments has led to more procedures being performed in the inter- ventional radiology (IR) suite 1 ; thus, nurses face the challenges of applying the nursing process to patient care in radiology. Nurses practicing in IR must be competent to care for all types of pa- tients, from those having elective procedures to patients who are critically ill and require emer- gent procedures. These nurses need critical think- ing skills to prevent or identify and intervene in problems that affect the safety of patients, and they must be skilled in interpersonal communica- tion and counseling. 2 It is essential to introduce the nursing process to nurses in IR, particularly nursing diagnoses, to better organize the nursing doi: 10.1016/j.aorn.2009.09.032 544 AORN Journal ● May 2010 Vol 91 No 5 © AORN, Inc, 2010