During the first phase of the Nursing and Health Outcomes Project, the Expert Panel on Outcomes commissioned a critical appraisal of the literature on the identified nursing sensitive outcomes: functional status, therapeutic self-care, symptom status (pain, nausea, dyspnea, fatigue), patient safety outcomes (pressure ulcers and patient falls) and patient satisfaction with nursing care. This critical appraisal also included an examination of the literature on nurses' job satisfaction and nursing minimum data sets. This work was completed by a team of researchers under the direction of Dr. Diane Doran and was subsequently published by Jones & Bartlett Inc. in January 2003 under the title: Nursing Sensitive Outcomes : State of the Science in January 2003.

This book will be of interest to graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in the state of the science for nursing sensitive outcomes and their measurement. In particular, the book will be a valuable resource to masters and doctoral students who are developing the methodology for their graduate research.

The book will be of value to researchers because it offers a comprehensive synthesis of the literature, critically reviews the quality of the evidence, and provides direction for the selection of outcome variables and approaches to their measurement. The book will be of value to policy makers and decision-makers who are building clinical data bases for quality monitoring and quality improvement.