International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®): a revision of literature

Abstract

The International Classification for Nursing Practice (ICNP®) which has been consolidated as a worldwide trend towards standardization of communication and information exchange between nurses, seeking to represent the nursing practice in the Health Information Systems. This narrative review aims to go to the historical background and to describe the evolution of concepts in different versions. The paper includes an emergence approach about the ICNP® and the constituent elements of each publication, from the Alpha version (1996) until the ICNP® version 2 (2009). The changes occurred, among others, in the presentation of the terms in multi-axial models, which evolved from two models of eight (8) axes for a model of seven (7) axes, which meets the requirements of the basic elements composition, and at the same time, minimizes the complexity without loss of consistency, this factor could stimulate the nurses for their effective use. This article is a contribution to bring nurses and scholars to this knowledge, promoting the incorporation of the ICNP® to the Nursing Process, allowing the visibility of the Nursing practice to the information universe.

Descriptors: Classification; Controlled Vocabulary; Literature Review; Literature Review as a Topic; Nursing; International Council of Nurses.