Purpose: To review the use of diagnosis-specific outcomes in health care and nursing.
Data sources: Published literature, information databases.
Data synthesis: The need to identify nursing diagnosis-specific outcomes is necessary in order to expand nursing's knowledge base and identify the cost-effectiveness of nursing interventions.
Conclusions: Outcomes work needs to be done across settings where care is provided.
Practice implications: Outcomes information is necessary to identify the cost and impact of nursing interventions.