Describing the work of nursing: the case of postsurgical nursing interventions for men with prostate cancer.

Nursing interventions were provided to older men following prostate surgery during a controlled clinical trial examining nursing care and its effects on quality of life outcomes. The Nursing Intervention Lexicon and Taxonomy (NILT), consisting of 7 categories of nursing interventions, was used to classify intervention statements extracted from 32 home care records. Two major categories of interventions were patient teaching (45%) and psychologically based interventions (20%). In a comparison of the types of interventions provided upon discharge from the hospital with those provided at the end of 1 month of home care, it appeared that patients had not yet shifted from the crisis to the chronic phase of their illness course based on Rolland's framework.