Care Plans an Exercise in FUTILITY??????

BRANDY LPN · Jun 8, 2004

Nope, I think they were thought up by someone with entirely too much time on their hands and NO bedside experience.

menaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa · Jun 8, 2004

what I think it is that care plan is very important for the patient as well as for us. by care plan we will be able to give the right care for the patients as you know each patients need different care according to thier case, age...ect.

so, we have to write it daily.

DG5 · Jun 8, 2004

Nope too. They sit in our computer and once every six months or so get updated with our care reviews. The RN's certainly don't use them on any significant PRACTICAL level. We have to have them for every resident and each nurse is given six or seven to update in the course of the year.

Kimburly · Jun 8, 2004

Not used by many at my workplace. We tell each other in report what the patient is there for, so why look at some piece of paper with vague nursing diagnoses that don't really tell you what you need to do anyway?

Brickman · Jun 8, 2004

But without careplans we wouldn't have anyplace to write the ever so helpful nursing diagnoses.

myrenie · Jun 8, 2004

We use care plans very consistantly in the LTC facility where I am employed. They each get up dated regularly, goals are realistic and individualized for each resident. We use a web based careplan program, and it prints the finished hardcopy.

Much easier then reinventing the wheel.

BRANDY LPN · Jun 8, 2004

But without careplans we wouldn't have anyplace to write the ever so helpful nursing diagnoses.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

TELEpathicRN · Jun 8, 2004

In LTC we heavily rely on the care plan, they are extremely individualized and really give you a picture of each resident. No, we do not have time to sit down and read each and every care plan before we take care of a resident, but it is a good guidline. When I was in school I thought careplans were sooooo stupid, but after 7 yrs of nursing practice, I believe they help nurses develop thinking skills. Just my opinion....

NursesRmofun, ASN, RN · Jun 10, 2004

:uhoh21: I would like to know how many of you out there sit down and read each and every care plan on each and everyone of your residents each and every day before you start work? I am not talking about getting report, or reading the assignment board.

Yes the RN nursing practice act mandates that we formulate one, and the state and federal regulations mandate that we develop one as well. Most of the care plans just duplicate what is already built into the standards of care, & the MD orders.

Do you think that the care plans in the residents medical records have a significant impact on the way you deliver nursing care?:uhoh21:

Not sure how much good they are. We usually have the care plan in our heads. We don't need it on paper. Maybe it is supposed to help some of us focus on what needs to be done. And the ones who really need some of the info. is the CNAs.....the ones who don't see them and don't have the time to read them! Yes, it is frustrating.

Destinystar · Jun 11, 2004

Seems to me they were a good tool to utilize when we were going through nursing school to develop our nursing skills. I would agree we can take report, look at the res., read the MD orders, review recent labs and be able to make up our minds in a matter of seconds what the res. needs. The res. are not like a piece of furniture that you can record data on and then come back 3 mos. later and find it exactly they way you left it. The res. are constantly changing in every way shape and form. We have to make split second decisons on what the problem is, what is causing it and what to do to correct it. Cant rely on some care plan that was written months ago. Just isnt practicle. As far as the CNA's are concerned they need a good shift report about all the things that they are responsible for when taking care of their residents. Like us the CNA's have a very good idea what to do for their res. without a lot of input from us. :uhoh21:

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2004

Careplans are helpful to students, because they help you to think like a nurse.

Once one becomes a nurse, the pt's problems and potential problems are in your head, and a written care-plan is not needed.

For instance, when an experienced nurse gets a status post CVA pt, she will do an assessment, and she will automatically think- limited mobility, skin breakdown, frequent turns, DVT risk, incont care, difficulty swallowing, risk for aspiration, risk for pneumonia, self care deficits, risk for falls, etc.

Careplans help you to understand the pt's problems, potential problems and nursing interventions as related to medical DX. After you have internalized this knowledge, care plans are no longer useful.