Care Plans

[STLmomma27]

Okay, these "Care Plans," I keep reading about are really worrying me. They seem so complicated and detailed.

Has anyone done them? Are they hard to do?

[rubato, ASN, RN]

I actually love writing care plans. They help you to understand your patient in the way nurses actually do. Mine were usually about 2 pages, but it was so interesting to me. When we got to clinicals, the charting system for our patients had the nurses priority interventions and it showed me that careplans are really used, just not in the formal way we have to write them.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

The minute I stopped thinking of care plans as homework and a waste of time, is the point where they started helping me. They are complex, but they are framing the way that you think. I am getting to the point where I can do them in my head!

I actually love writing care plans. They help you to understand your patient in the way nurses actually do. Mine were usually about 2 pages, but it was so interesting to me. When we got to clinicals, the charting system for our patients had the nurses priority interventions and it showed me that careplans are really used, just not in the formal way we have to write them.

:nmbrn:

Yippee! Yippee! Yippee! They get it!!

:hpygrp:

Care plans are to teach you to think like a nurse, not to waste your time or annoy you!

(And so sorry, copying something out of a book and calling it a "care plan" isn't going to do it. You have to assess your patient for presence or absence of defining characteristics for nursing diagnoses to write a nursing pan of care to implement or delegate.)

Get the NANDA-I 2012-2014 at Amazon and get a head start on that awesome process! You will be glad you did!

Esme, we're making progress here!

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

:nmbrn:

Yippee! Yippee! Yippee! They get it!! :hpygrp:

Care plans are to teach you to think like a nurse, not to waste your time or annoy you!

(And so sorry, copying something out of a book and calling it a "care plan" isn't going to do it. You have to assess your patient for presence or absence of defining characteristics for nursing diagnoses to write a nursing pan of care to implement or delegate.)

Get the NANDA-I 2012-2014 at Amazon and get a head start on that awesome process! You will be glad you did!

!

Yes...there's hope for the future of nursing

In my nursing programs (PN and BSN) I had a nursing diagnosis book. My PN gave us one with our textbook bundle; my BSN program had the NANDA book as a suggestion, but it was emphasized to get one; and they even supplied a list.

I cannot express what care plans have done with my practice in thinking like a nurse, as well as having the critical thinking and insight once I approach a patient and assess them.

I still own a care plan book; even after being a nurse for 8 years...best nursing book I own, in addition to my Critical Thinking book I own. :)

[Mama_Cashew, ASN, RN]

Holy cow...15 pages!? We have to create a "care map" on a sheet of paper. Some people use 8.5x11, a lot of us use 11x14. Some students create them on their computer; I prefer a pencil and colored markers. They're not difficult (at least I don't think so), just VERY time consuming.

I wish our care plans were this short. At my school, the average care plan is 20 to 25 pages long! Plus we have to do concept maps and data sheets.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

It doesn't matter how long. Better short and thorough than long and sprawling.

[THELIVINGWORST, ASN, RN]

And yes, you can be concise and thorough

[RunnerRN2015, ASN, RN]

It doesn't matter how long. Better short and thorough than long and sprawling.

THIS!

Ours is a care map but there is A LOT of information on the care map! Every med, every lab value, nursing dx's, interventions, medical dx and hx, Erickson stage, collaborative efforts, etc etc etc. They are intense (but fun!).

[Mama_Cashew, ASN, RN]

It doesn't matter how long. Better short and thorough than long and sprawling.

I totally agree, but that 20-25 pages is just the template our school gives us!

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

In my program, we started off with a very basic care plan. Then we transitioned over to a slightly different style of care plan, and while that template was around 6 pages, the filled-in plan usually would end up being around 10 pages. It wasn't all that difficult, actually. There were times when I'd end up doing 4 or 5 care plans because my patients would go home after I'd prepped on them.

My first care plan took around 6 hours to complete, not including prep time. If you included that, it would have taken around 8 hours. Now it usually takes me about 90 minutes to choose the patients, gather the info, and begin filling out the plan. Once I get home, it usually takes me another 90 minutes to complete each plan (meds take the longest time).

Now in all honesty, I absolutely despise doing them. However, I also know the reason why we have to do them and they're wonderful for teaching the nursing process and what we do and why. For that, I absolutely love them! This coming Semester, we should be going to an abbreviated care plan. We still have to know the information, but the actual task of writing them should be a lot easier.

Now as to what we did: we gathered history, meds, allergies, reason for hospitalization, recent labs, researched the pathophys on the most significant problems, and did a concept map that interrelated all that stuff. What we will do soon is simply the concept map, meds, and pathophys. Part of the reason why they're paring down the number of sheets we have to fill out is to eventually get us to be able to do what we need on a simple one sheet brain for all of our patients. Speaking of the brain, we use one while on the floor to keep us organized throughout the day.

I can certainly say that through this process, I've learned a lot and I'm very much starting to think like a nurse. Which, of course, is the whole point of this process!