How does NIC contribute to theory development in nursing?
The intervention labels are the concepts, the names of the treatments provided by nurses. The definitions and activities that accompany the labels provide for definition and description of the interventions. Clarification of intervention concepts contributes to the development of nursing knowledge and facilitates communication within the discipline. As nursing’s ability to link diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes grows, prescriptive theory for nursing practice will evolve. The Nursing Interventions Classification is a crucial development because it provides the lexical elements for middle-range theories in nursing that will link diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes. Interventions are the key element in nursing. All other aspects of nursing practice are contingent upon, and secondary to, the treatments that identify and delineate our discipline. This intervention-centric approach does not diminish the importance of the patient, but from a disciplinary perspective, the phenomenon of
