Care plans are stupid.

Caffeine_IV · Feb 16, 2011

We do careplans. They are on the computers with interventions listed that you check off and also you can write in your own.

Without them, I'm sure we could get along but I find the interventions for most of ours match up with what we actually do for the patient.

opjewel · Feb 16, 2011

care plans may sometimes be monotonous but are not stupid.

it gives the nurse a sense of belonging making the profession distinct somewhat.

it helps you to prioritize your care and interventions

it helps you think critically, and care for each patient individually not just treating the disease.

evaluation of nursing actions or interventions, promotes efficiency.

mentalhealthRN · Feb 16, 2011

Gotta agree in LTC doing them is a waste of time. I had to write them and never found myself or anyone else actually using them. Waste of ink and paper. Care pathways in an acute care setting have been mentioned. These are different and may have some usefulness, but a Care pathway and a care plan like used in LTC are not the same.

Zookeeper3 · Feb 16, 2011

Care plans are a JOINT COMMISSION requirement. Period. They are stupid, they are a waste of time, they evolved from a thought process of linking MD diagnosis to a nurse driven diagnosis.. and so on...to keep our profession an independent profession... BUT until the joint doesn't require them ... we must do them.

Nursing created this monster to be a professional segregation from the MD's... so no one is giving that extra paperwork up anytime soon. No matter how irrelevant and archaic it is. Deal. Sorry and yes it sucks. Thank god real world care plans are nothing like school ones. It could be worse, remember that.

allnurses Guide · Feb 16, 2011

They are not necessarily stupid but rather informational. You will NEVER do another one the rest of your life in the real world. They just try to get you to think about what is going on with the patient and put things together. Good luck the rest of the way

NOT necessarily true!!!!! I worked in a psych facility last year, in which EVERYTHING was done on paper, no computer charting, no EMAR, none of that. We HAD care plans that were VERY similar to the ones written in nursing school. Some of them were pre-printed; we only had to do a slight bit of writing, and sign them. But for other various problems, we had to write entire care plans!

Trauma Columnist · Feb 16, 2011

I was giggling when I read Madwife's post - I'm an APN in several dialysis units and whoa boy - there are careplans out the wazoo!

And...yes, they are useless IMHO.

Dixiecup · Feb 16, 2011

I hear what the OP is saying. In LTC you have to care plan every little thing. If a resident decides they want soda with breakfast, it has to be care planned to CYA.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2011

That is all.

Feel Better???? I hope so.....xoxo

maestrotee · Feb 16, 2011

Feel Better???? I hope so.....xoxo

I do actually. Thanks! :-)

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Feb 16, 2011

When I was gearing up to finish nursing school, I remember being so happy that I was never going to have to see a care plan again, since I was going to the OR. I can see making students do them though.

We do have a care plan screen in our computer charting but I think that's just for show- you can't add anything to it. The stuff we do daily in the OR covers it all anyway.

CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2011

Those who think you need a care plan to provide care....have you looked at a LTC resident's care plan? If so, how long did it take you to read the often 30pg or more care plan? In that time, I could have looked thru the chart, got the H and P checked the med and tx list and probably formulated my plan of care.

Yeah, I might not have know that they like apple sauce instead of pudding with the meds, but I would have a good idea.

I was an assessment coordinator aka RNAC for two years and I did care plans from sun up until sun down (they were 100% hand written way back then) I still work LTC and I can tell you I haven't looked at one in years except for starting them on admit.

LTCangel, ADN, BSN, LPN · Feb 16, 2011

When I First began working in the hospital 14 years ago we used preprinted paper care plans that went hand in hand with the patien's diagnosis and this is what we charted off against at the end of the shift. I didn't find them annoyinf at all and they made sense because they were simple and we could also add or cross off things that we did or did not need. Now we are computer charting and we have to enter care plans that are already loaded into the computer. They make NO SENSE whatsoever!!! I hate them but at he end of our shift we have to check mark parts of the care plan that we utilized or make a comment as to why it was not implemented. They are now very useless to me and everyone else and most nurses pay very little attention to what they are even clicking on they just want to get finished. So, I guess my opinion is they can be useful but in today's world but with comuter charting they mostly are not or at least not at my hospital! :crying2: