What term refers to a clinical judgment about individual, family, or community responses to actual or potential health problems or life processes?

• A. Nursing diagnosis
• B. Medical diagnosis
• C. Diagnosis/problem label
• D. Etiology

Answer: (A)

A nursing diagnosis is the clinical judgment about how an individual, family, or community responds to actual or potential health problems or life processes. It focuses on the patient’s experiences and functioning—the responses that nursing care is designed to influence—whether these problems exist now or may develop. This makes it different from labeling a disease; it’s about the person’s reactions and needs that nursing interventions can address.

For example, a statement like Pain related to abdominal surgery captures the patient’s experience and guides nursing actions to relieve pain, monitor comfort, and support recovery. In contrast, a medical diagnosis would name the disease or condition causing symptoms, such as appendicitis. Etiology refers to the cause of a problem, not the patient’s response, so it doesn’t fit this question. And “diagnosis/problem label” isn’t the formal term used in nursing practice—the accepted term is nursing diagnosis.