A qualitative study to explain the criteria of nursing managers in selecting effective nursing diagnosis

Participant number	Age (years)	Gender	Educational level	Clinical experience (years)	Managerial level
1	36	Female	Master’s degree	12	Clinical supervisor
2	33	Male	Bachelor’s degree	6	Head nurse; ICS
3	44	Female	Bachelor’s degree	20	Nursing manager
4	44	Female	Bachelor’s degree	18	Head nurse; general
5	25	Female	Master’s degree	2	Educational supervisor
6	26	Female	Bachelor’s degree	3	Clinical supervisor
7	47	Female	PhD	23	Nursing manager
8	39	Male	Bachelor’s degree	14	Head nurse; general
9	31	Male	Master’s degree	3	Head nurse; ICS
10	33	Female	Bachelor’s degree	7	Clinical supervisor

Category and sub-category	Codes
Centrality of the nursing profession
Compatibility with nursing practices	Being specific to the field of nursing; ability to establish team communication; usability in intercultural nursing; complying with task delegations; compatible with nursing concepts; being operational and clinical; ease of use for nurses; acceptance by clinical nurses and nursing managers; applicable in physical and mental illnesses
Compliance with organizational and professional principles of nursing	Usability in emerging and recurrent diseases; increasing patient–nurse satisfaction; time-effectivity; improving the responsibility of nurses; having a guide and systematic nursing diagnoses; being comprehensive; cost-effectivity; reducing the workload of nurses; being updatable
Covering the patient care aspect
Having potential to facilitate	Ability to establish more patient–nurse communication; eliminating barriers to active involvement of nurses in bedsides; leading to the alteration of attitudes of staff and clients
Adaptation to patient care conditions	Being both process- and outcome-driven; compatibility with the conditions of patients in different wards; having a nursing diagnosis for all stages of care from hospitalization to death