Nursing interventions in adult psychiatric outpatient care. Making nursing visible using the Nursing Interventions Classification

Abstract Aim To describe and to clarify the work of nurses in psychiatric outpatient care using a standardized nursing terminology and to describe the potential benefits and challenges in the use of the terminology. Design A qualitative study of ethnographically grounded fieldwork in four adult outpatient units located in three major cities in Finland. Methods A two‐phase ethnographically oriented study, consisting of observations and focus group interviews in four psychiatric outpatient care units (in January–March 2018). During this process, the identified nursing interventions were mapped into the Nursing Interventions Classification. Results We identified 93 different nursing interventions, covering all seven domains. Categories describing potential benefits and challenges were as follows: giving words to nurses’ work and the challenge of overlapping interventions.