Best care plan book?

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Hello all, I was wondering what the best care plan book is? Do you use multiple? Or is one good enough? I just got my first care plan scenario and I am barely doing the patho on it, but I want to learn to do these the best way possible. I would prefer to do it right the first time instead of being torn apart by my professors. Any tips on care plans? How long does it take you to complete one? Thank you!

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I dont have a book but I just found a site since I am being introduced to them as well... They have sample plans on there are straight to the point.

[/url]you can definitely google nursing care plans and find really great examples.

Also the book that we use for diagnoses actually give you everything you need to write for your care plan and they set them up by priority! I haven't really branched off into other books but so far so good!

Amazon.com: Nurse's Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Prioritized Interventions and Rationales (9780803622340): Marilynn Doenges, Mary Moorhouse, Alice Murr: Books

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Specializes in ER.

I use Ackley's Nursing Diagnosis Handbook. But I'm registered for several more on Evolve. You don't have to buy the book to register for the resources, you just have to know the title so you can search for it.

Tips on writing care plans... I always start with my assessment instead of trying to fit a diagnosis onto a patient. Look for anything out of the norm on your assessment, and that will lead you to a diagnosis. That sounds like total common sense, but in the beginning, at least for me, interpreting the assessment was overwhelming. I would go through the NANDA list and say "this one sounds like my patient." That works ok until you have to back up the diagnosis with your R/T and AEB. Find clusters of abnormal assessment data, then go searching for your diagnosis. The AEB is already done, because it's the assessment data you used to find the diagnosis!

The interventions should be sort of common sense. Risk for falls? What can I do to prevent my patient from falling? Impaired gas exchange? What can I do to improve that? Don't overthink it. Think of the patho and what's going on to cause the problem, and then you will know what you can do to correct it.

I can write a mini care plan in a few hours, including the patho and filling in all of the labs. I have a meds database that I created that makes the meds go quick as well. I am working on a major care plan this week and I have spent about 5 hours so far. It will take another 3 hours to complete it. But the patho alone is 3 pages long, and almost all of the 20 meds for this patient were new to me. :wacky:

It's overwhelming at first, but it does get easier as you get more practice. Get your care plan paperwork organized into a folder and just copy and paste a new one each week. Organization saves a ton of time!

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My instructor REQUIRES Carpenito for some portions of a care plan / concept map but allows us to use other nursing diagnosis books for other parts. Most people ahead of me seem to really like Ackley/Ladwig (considerably better than Carpenito) but I'm just getting started on this whole care plan / concept map thing, so I've only used my Carpenito (that those ahead of me say is harder to use).

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

Be sure your facility doesn't require or strongly suggest a certain book I too use Ackey and I also use gulanick. If you are having trouble with your care plans you can ask about how to do the care plan in the nursing student assistance. We won't do it for you but we will get you to where you need to be.

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