Classification tree to screen for the nursing diagnosis Ineffective airway clearance

to identify the defining characteristics of Ineffective airway clearance with better predictive power using classification trees. the predictive power of the defining characteristics of Ineffective airway clearance was evaluated based on classification trees generated from the data of 249 children with acute respiratory infection. Ineffective cough and adventitious breath sounds were identified as the main defining characteristics when screening for Ineffective airway clearance in accordance with trees based on three different computational algorithms. Ineffective coughing and adventitious breath sounds had better predictive capacity for Ineffective airway clearance in the sample.