Writing a Nursing Diagnosis in PES Format

The PES format gives a nursing diagnosis three parts: the Problem, its Etiology (related to) and the Signs and symptoms that show it is present (as evidenced by).

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The three parts

A fictional example: Acute pain related to surgical incision as evidenced by patient rating pain 7/10 and guarding the right hip. The problem label comes from the approved diagnosis list your program uses, such as the current NANDA-I taxonomy.

Risk diagnoses

A risk diagnosis has no signs and symptoms because the problem has not happened yet. It is written with the problem and the risk factors, for example: Risk for falls as evidenced by unsteady gait and use of a walking frame. Some programs write 'related to' instead.

Checks before you finalise

• Is the problem something nurses can treat independently?
• Does the etiology describe a cause nursing actions can address?
• Does every sign or symptom appear in your assessment data?
• Have you avoided legally risky wording, such as blaming the patient or staff?