Clinical Applicability of a Terminology Subset for Monitoring Child Development from Zero Months to Age Three: An Observational Study

Child development monitoring by nurses enables the identification of alterations and early interventions. This study analyzed the clinical applicability of a terminology subset for monitoring the development of children aged zero to three years during nursing consultations. This is a cross-sectional, observational study that analyzed the applicability of a terminology subset. Three stages of the clinical applicability analysis method for terminology subsets were followed: development of the data collection instrument; systematic observation of 46 consultations in two Brazilian municipalities; and data organization and analysis. Nursing diagnoses, outcomes, and interventions observed at least once during a consultation were considered applicable. Of the analyzed subset, 64.7% of the diagnoses/outcomes and 21.3% of the interventions were observed during consultations and are applicable to clinical practice. Notably, the diagnosis “Child development, effective” was identified in 93% of the consultations. The data suggest the applicability of the subset in specific Brazilian primary healthcare contexts, predominantly with healthy children.