Concept Maps?

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Our nursing school started concept mapping 2 years ago. I was wandering if anyone else has to do these, and if so...any help would be great. I honestly thought they are the same thing as a care plan...but in our school we have to do both.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

you are being asked to create a care plan for a hypothetical patient in pain and present it in the form of a concept map (care map). you still need to follow the steps of the nursing process to do this:

  1. assessment (collect data from medical record, do a physical assessment of the patient, assess adl's, look up information about your patient's medical diseases/conditions to learn about the signs and symptoms and pathophysiology)
  2. determination of the patient's problem(s)/nursing diagnosis (make a list of the abnormal assessment data, match your abnormal assessment data to likely nursing diagnoses, decide on the nursing diagnoses to use)
  3. planning (write measurable goals/outcomes and nursing interventions)
  4. implementation (initiate the care plan)
  5. evaluation (determine if goals/outcomes have been met)

this post has some information on the pathophysiology of pain:

you need to develop a set of signs and symptoms of pain that you would see in the hypothetical patient that you create for this assignment. these signs and symptoms of pain will be in accord with the pathophysiology. patient care is often based upon treating the signs and symptoms. this will be shown very clearly on the concept map.

you will use this care plan as a template for future care plans where you will have patients with a nursing diagnosis of pain, so you will want to start of notebook of these care maps. you may want to swap and share with other students in your class.

there is a sticky thread on the nursing student assistance forum that has information on concept maps including examples of several patient care maps plus links to a care map constructor:

if you need more information on the process of wreiting a care plan, see

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Specializes in Ambulatory Care/Rehabilitation.
I have had to do concept maps before. I have a website that has a free template on it if you need one. They were easier than they looked.

Hi! do you still have the website that has a free template as you mentioned above? I could sure use the help! Thank you!

Nikki:typing

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

go to the sticky i posted above (https://allnurses.com/forums/f205/care-maps-225330.html - care maps) and you will find a couple of links to templates as well as weblinks to websites that you can use to create your own template. one of the weblinks that explains what concept mapping is has a list of weblinks to software to create concept maps listed at the end of it. many software programs allow you several free hours of use of their program before deciding to buy it. many school computer labs have already purchased a program that can do these templates (ex: microsoft visio, the add-on to microsoft powerpoint), especially if they have business programs and offer degrees in business. you will need to ask which computers have these programs on them so you can access the software. your instructors, i would think, would be giving you this information.

when all else fails, the drawing tools in microsoft word can be used.

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Here is a link to a Concept Mapping Tool I used in the past:

http://cmap.ihmc.us/

If you play around on the site they have good information on using concept mapping.

And here is the download page. It's a free program for educational use.

http://cmap.ihmc.us/download/index.php?myPlat=Mac

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this is my first semester of nursing school. I have done a couple of care maps but i cant seem to grasp the idea of the nursing diagnoses( i understand that part) but i dont get the related to, secondary to, and the secondary to. can someone help

Thanks

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
this is my first semester of nursing school. I have done a couple of care maps but i cant seem to grasp the idea of the nursing diagnoses( i understand that part) but i dont get the related to, secondary to, and the secondary to. can someone help

Thanks

The nursing diagnosis is the nursing problem.

The "related to" part of the diagnostic statement is what is causing or contributing to the problem. This is explained by some kind of change that has occurred. This is why you learn what a normal physical exam is--to be able to recognize what is abnormal, or changed. Often, for nursing diagnoses, changes are physiological or psychological in nature, but they can be other things as well. The kinds of things that change and contribute to the formation of a nursing problem are

  • medical diseases (knowing the pathophysiology of a disease helps)
  • injury and trauma
  • birth defects
  • inherited manifestations
  • signs and symptoms
  • medical procedures (ex: surgery)
  • psychosocial factors
  • developmental stages
  • lifestyles
  • situational factors
  • environmental factors

The "secondary to" wording is used in the diagnostic statement just after the "related to" part specifically to include medical diagnoses in order to clarify the underlying cause of the problem. It is the only way to introduce a medical diagnosis into a nursing diagnostic statement. Otherwise, medical diagnoses are not to be used at all.

Examples:

  • Impaired Swallowing R/T lump in throat secondary to cancer of the larynx AEB gagging when trying to swallow, incomplete swallowing of each bolus of food and repetitive attempts to swallow each bolus of food.
  • Ineffective Tissue Perfusion, peripheral R/T impaired arterial circulation secondary to diabetes mellitus AEB delayed healing of wound on 3rd toe of left foot and weak pulses.

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I'm not having too much difficulty with my concept map presentation. However I need to show on my presentation how each nursing diagnoses relates to one another by drawing lines and connecting them. Can anyone help me with this, before I go out of my mind! LoL :selfbonk:

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I'm not having too much difficulty with my concept map presentation. However I need to show on my presentation how each nursing diagnoses relates to one another by drawing lines and connecting them. Can anyone help me with this, before I go out of my mind! LoL :selfbonk:

Each nursing diagnosis should not relate with another one. The nursing diagnoses do relate with the abnormal assessment data that you obtained from the patient. The reason you have different diagnoses is because of all the different assessment data that you have. Each diagnosis represents a different problem. If each is a different problem, how can they all be related?

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Thanks for the info and templates of care maps, etc. I am starting my 2nd semester of ADN-RN program and they told we could do care maps instead of care plans if we did well and were signed off on them. All they gave us was a template with no explaination and it really does not make a lot of sense in some blocks. A bunch of us have to redo them and so we are going to collaborate to see if we can help each other out. I will share what I have gotten from here. Thanks again.

Liana

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I have to do map mans too or concept maps. Basically they are a simmplified version of your care plan and I found them easier to do. If you send me your email address I can send you some of the care maps I made last semester and an example of one that I have in care plan book and one that my instructor gave us.

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Hi, Everyone I'm a first year nursing student and was told that this website will help me with my first concept map. If someone have any ideas or great examples I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Posted by: 1totry31

I have to do map mans too or concept maps. Basically they are a simmplified version of your care plan and I found them easier to do. If you send me your email address I can send you some of the care maps I made last semester and an example of one that I have in care plan book and one that my instructor gave us.
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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
Hi, Everyone I'm a first year nursing student and was told that this website will help me with my first concept map. If someone have any ideas or great examples I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

Posted by: 1totry31

Read the posts and weblinks on this thread. There are examples of nursing concept maps that are attached. Did you even look?

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