ENP – a Language for Nursing
ENP stands for European Nursing care Pathways. The nursing terminology and classification system has been continuously developed since 1989. The standardized, cross-sector terminology is characterized by detailed and finely granular descriptions for the respective nursing care situation: the so-called ENP practice guideline. ENP is available in book form (in German) and as a database for integration into third-party systems/HIS. ENP is also at the heart of RECOM-GRIPS, the digital nursing care and treatment documentation system.
ENP is used by more than 100,000 users in hospitals, enursing homes and mobile services in EU countries to map and document the entire nursing process. ENP is also an integral part of training at many nursing schools in Germany, e.g. with the ENP Online training platform. In Luxembourg, ENP is also being used successfully nationwide and across sectors.
Why Should You Use Nursing Terminology?
The core competencies and fundamentals of the nursing process and nursing diagnosis are not only an important part of generalist nursing training, but also have a high priority in the nursing work environment. In this way, nursing terminology supports a targeted workflow and nursing history. In addition, the results of the nursing process are documented in the nursing care plan using nursing terminology, thereby organizing the work of the nursing team.
Rely on:
- Significant quality assurance
- Increasing patient safety
- Nursing diagnostics for legitimizing nursing actions
- Nursing diagnostics as a core competency of professional nursing
- Time saving
- Decision support
- Valid & evidence-based nursing process documentation
- Multilingualism (German, French, English, Italian)
Eliminate:
- Time-consuming nursing process documentation
- Inefficiency due to duplicate documentation
- Insufficient data basis
- Quality deficits & high risk of errors
- Incomplete documentation
Benefits of a standardized and authoritative nursing terminology
The ENP Practice Guideline in Detail
As a classification system, ENP consists of nursing diagnoses, outcomes and interventions (measures) that are linked together in the form of evidence-based pathways. The nursing diagnoses are specified with structured characteristics, etiologies and resources. ENP stands out from other classifications due to its low level of abstraction, i.e., ENP provides specific descriptions for the respective nursing situation within the entire nursing process. All necessary elements for describing the nursing situation in detail are available, e.g., as wording assistance. In addition, the ENP interventions can be linked to normative time values in digital form, thereby enabling the measurement of nursing input. Translations of ENP are available in French, Italian and English.
Your advantages at a glance:
- Establishing a basis for performance and quality indicators and key figures
- Transfer and transformation into billing-relevant service packages
- Reduction of duplicate documentation
- Improving implementation quality and standardizing procedures
- Effective collaboration through a common language to communicate medical information accurately and unambiguously
- Applicable in all areas of nursing care (cross-sector)
- The institution can select the ENP abstraction level according to its needs
- Linked normative time values can also be integrated
Integration
Are you interested in integrating ENP as a database with or without time values into your HIS/IT infrastructure? Depending on which HIS your institution uses, either interfaces for integration via one of our software partners are already available, or we will examine how smooth integration can be achieved.
Please contact us directly using the contact form or at datenbank@recom.eu.
Scientific Background of ENP
Download of the latest scientific background Information
Note: The scientific background information in German and French can be found in the respective language versions of our website.
Download archive versions
Note: older versions are available on request from info@recom.eu
Contact persons
Databases
Further development & content ENP
FAQ
European Nursing care Pathways has been developed by our nursing science team for over 30 years. The goal: to be able to map the entire nursing process. With our own nursing science research and development department, we at Thieme RECOM ensure the transfer of current, evidence-based nursing knowledge into everyday nursing practice. ENP is being further developed in close cooperation with users. In line with our motto: from practice to theory and back to practice! The low level of abstraction is a special feature of ENP: the nursing interventions are formulated in very concrete terms and are therefore truly applicable to everyday nursing practice.
Based on a nursing diagnosis (which also includes selected characteristics, etiologies and resources), nursing outcomes and associated nursing interventions are provided. This results in an ENP practice guideline tailored to the individual person and situation. The low level of abstraction allows for a very specific selection of detailed interventions that guide action.
As a book, e-book, within the ENP Online digital learning platform, and as a database for integration into third-party systems. The database is available in SQL format or as CSV files for practical use in outpatient/mobile care, nursing homes or hospitals.
ENP is being developed in German. The complete classification is also available in French, English and Italian.
Yes, the starting point for an ENP practice guideline is always a nursing diagnosis (with characteristics, etiologies, resources, outcomes, interventions and detailed guiding interventions).
With our ENP Online web application, you can try out digital nursing planning using the entire ENP catalog. This gives teachers, trainees/students, and interested parties practical access to nursing diagnostics. After a quick registration process, the entire catalog is available for viewing. The premium model also allows you to save, export, or print completed nursing care plans. ENP Online is available in German, French and English.
The use of standardized nursing terminology (classification) for nursing documentation (planned and performed nursing care) serves to ensure patient safety and the quality of the nursing care provided when nursing diagnoses have been selected for an individual patient following a diagnostic decision-making process. When nursing diagnoses are used in an electronic health record (EHR), the administrative effort required for documentation can be significantly reduced. Benefit: you no longer have to rack your brains over the right wording, and unnecessary errors are reduced. The pre-written, scientifically based text elements ensure clear communication between everyone involved in the nursing process and prevent ambiguities and misunderstandings. Exciting side effect: documentation using standardized nursing terminology also generates high-quality, analyzable data.
