Toward comparable nursing data: American Nurses Association criteria for data sets, classification systems, and nomenclatures.

The American Nurses Association has long recognized the need for nursing to participate in the development of national healthcare data sets and standardized terminologies suitable for implementation in computer-based systems. In 1989, the American Nurses Association Steering Committee on Databases to Support Clinical Nursing Practice was established to make policy recommendations related to nursing data needs. A primary function of the committee was the development of criteria for "recognition" of nursing language systems toward the goal of a Unified Nursing Language System. The committee has evolved and, in 1998, was renamed the Committee on Nursing Practice Information Infrastructure. In this article the revisions in the American Nurses Association recognition criteria and the role of professional associations in standards development are discussed. Distinct criteria for nursing data sets, classification systems, and nomenclatures are reflective of the evolution in the healthcare environment toward concept-oriented terminologic systems that facilitate data re-use.