A Discourse Analysis of Nursing Diagnosis

Abstract

The author presents a discourse analysis in three sections: a genealogy, a structural discourse analysis, and a power analytic. She concludes that the discourse of nursing diagnosis sustains conditions of social domination, limits autonomy and responsibility, and oppresses individuals and groups. The discourse of nursing diagnosis restricts what counts as evidence and limits acceptable input of voices, thus excluding, for example, the voices of the patient and his or her family. The discourse of nursing diagnosis appeals to the dominance of empirical analytic science and equates this dominance with professional social status. The author discusses potential discourses of resistance that provide speaking positions from which to articulate specific practices that resist oppressive effects of nursing diagnosis.