Nursing care plans...good book?

Your nursing textbook.

There is also a book by Joanne McCloskey McCloskey Dochterman, Gloria M. Bulechek, Gloria M. Bulechek called Nursing Interventions Classification (NIC) which has lists of nursing interventions by nursing diagnosis and nursing outcomes. However, there are no rationales there. These lists are coded for computerized input. You might find them to be a good resource for ideas.

Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: A Guide to Planning Care by Betty J. Ackley and Gail B. Ladwig has interventions and rationales that are evidenced based but they are not tied to specific care plans of medical diseases. This is a book of nursing diagnoses. You can see how the interventions are listed in the book by looking at some of the online pages here: http://www1.us.elsevierhealth.com/Evolve/Ackley/NDH7e/Constructor/ Other care plan books are arranged by major medical diseases. The problem is that you may get a patient with some disease that isn't covered in the care plan book you have.

A excellent book on how to construct care plans is Nursing Care Planning Made Incredibly Easy. Most of the questions that students ask on the forums here is not about nursing interventions or rationales. It is about nursing diagnoses (as in how to come to the correct diagnosis) or how to construct the diagnostic statement so it makes sense. Instructors will ding you for faulty critical thinking on diagnosis construction. Most students do OK with nursing interventions and rationales.

Make sure you know the nursing process and its five steps and can recite them backwards and forwards and what goes on in each step--in your sleep.

I love the one I have. It's Sparks and Taylor's Nursing Diagnosis Reference Manual. I know it doesn't sound like a care plan book, but it really is. It breaks down the diagnoses by types of patients like pediatric or maternal, and gives every aspect of a good care plan in great detail. I would recommend it to everyone. It's gotten me through two semesters so far with no trouble. They have it at B&N or Amazon.

All-in-ONE Care planning resource. by MOSBY
It breaks down the type of patient, and lists several disease processes and what to look out for.

If your school is anything like mine, be careful! We can only cite and use books that are on the "approved list" from the school.