Clinical Care Classification System

[6][7] The computable structure of the CCC System allows nurses, allied health professionals, and researchers to determine; care needs (resources), workload (productivity), and outcomes (quality).

[10] The ANA subsequently submitted the four of six classifications/terminologies to the National Library of Medicine for input into its developing Unified Medical Language System's (UMLS) Metathesaurus.

The arrows are bi-directional indicating the continual flow and feedback among the three major concepts: The CCC System consists of discrete atomic-level data elements that encompasses nursing diagnoses, interventions, and outcomes.

The objective was to develop a computerized method for assessing and classifying patients for the prediction of nursing resources needs and for evaluating the outcomes of care.

[25] The CCC System was developed from retrospective research data from 8,967 patient records from a sample of 800 organizations randomly stratified by staff size, type of ownership, and geographic location.

[28] The CCC System is a standardized framework consisting of four levels designed to allow nursing data to flow upward as well as downward.

At the highest level the CCC System Framework consists of four healthcare patterns (Saba, 2007):[29] Each represents a different set of Care Components.

The second level consists of the 21 Care Components which serve to classify the two terminologies and define as a cluster of elements that depict one of four healthcare patterns.

The CCC coding structure is paced on the format of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems: Tenth Revision: Volume 1, WHO, 1992.

The CCC supports the mandate of accrediting organizations to reconcile patient-centered information (The Joint Commission, 2011) [1] and supports the informational exchange and data integrity requirements of CMS and the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for meaningful use when patient data is exchanged by using the Nurse Process recognized for professional nursing.