Care Plan Book Recommendation

Jonathank · Feb 15, 2011

Hello. I am a first year Nursing Student in my second quarter of studies. I begin my med surg clinical rotations next week and am looking for advice on a book to help with care plans. Is there a certain book that is better than the rest? Thanks in advance for your assistance :)

I'd say the NDX book that's best for you will be the one that most closely matches the language and format of the care plan forms used in your program. Ask an instructor which NDX book they used when the forms were done.

valsalvamanuever2 · Feb 17, 2011

My personal favorite is Delmar's med-surge care planning as it has most of the components needed to complete current care plans. It also includes a short description of aspects of each disease around which it builds careplans, something which I anticipate being pretty valuable when a floor nurse and I won't be researching my patients the night before going to work.

NP Sam · Feb 17, 2011

I have two: All-in-One Care Planning Resource by Swearingen (2nd ed.) and Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: an evidenced-based guide to planning care by Ackley& Ladwig (9th ed.).

They are helpful for me but like an above poster said, you should find one that is similar to the type of care plans you will be doing.

HopeandFuture · Feb 18, 2011

I have the All-in-One book by Swearingon, the Nursing Diagnosis Handbook by Ackley, and one called Nursing Care Plans by Gulanick. All 3 seem to be helpful, and I like things about each. I discovered a link for the Ackley one online that I can refer to if I don't have my book handy. You can type in a medical diagnosis, and it will display some associated nursing diagnoses for it. You can click on one of them and choose what applies to the situation (assessment, intervention, teaching). Here is the link if you want to check it out:

http://www1.us.elsevierhealth.com/Evolve/Ackley/NDH7e/Constructor/index.php