Nurses have been developing outcome typologies in various specialty areas of practice for at least three decades. Early typologies (conceptual groupings) used general terms. Quality assurance programs provided the major impetus to development in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently, diagnosis-specific standards/guidelines for practice, cost containment, and development of computerized patient records give further impetus. Additionally, large projects were funded in nursing; outcomes were not as controversial as the term, nursing diagnosis (Simmons, 1980; Horn & Swain, 1978, Johnson & Maas, 1997).

Johnson and Maas have used similarity ratings and hierarchical clustering techniques to develop a taxonomy with 24 classes and six domains. These were used to classify the more than 200 outcomes and outcome indicators developed in their project. The domains are

1. functional,
2. physiologic, and
3. psychosocial health,
4. health knowledge and behavior,
5. perceived health, and
6. family health

It is claimed that nursing is invisible in health care delivery because we have not articulated our contribution. Although recognized as incomplete, it is impressive to see a list of nurse-sensitive outcomes and know that this list represents a visible "image" of nursing's contribution to the nation's health.