Cross‐Mapping Between Three Terminologies With the International Standard Nursing Reference Terminology Model

PURPOSE.  The International Standards Organization's (ISO) International Standard IS 18104 should assist the nursing profession to integrate their terminologies into computer systems and healthcare reference terminologies. The purpose of this study is to cross‐map between different terminologies; that is, to determine if concepts in one terminology are similar to concepts in another terminology.METHODS.  The ISO standard was used to test the degree to which three terminologies could be cross‐mapped to each other. Concepts and terms were selected, their equivalence determined by experts, and the specific concepts were dissected or broken down to their constituent parts. RESULTS.  Based on experts’ selections from the three classifications, equivalent concepts were identified. Those concepts deemed equivalent were dissected, thus revealing whether the components of the nursing diagnostic concepts such as focus, judgment, and other attributes of the ISO standard matched. Based on the dissection of each diagnosis, the decision was made whether mapping was possible or not. CONCLUSIONS.  The dissection revealed that several nursing diagnostic concepts can easily be interchanged, while others cannot or can be mapped only for specific purposes (e.g., clinical or aggregate use). This implies that for some concepts it does not matter which terminology is used, and in other cases it does because of different meanings.