Care plans

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2006

How long should care plans be? If you are doing them for nursing school? I have to do 4...Any help? (going on Nursing Process)

I guess it depends on what you are being asked to present to your instructors. My longest care plan was 48 pages when I was in nursing school getting my BSN. Most of the time, you could probably fit what you need on 6 to 8 pages. The more complicated the patient's problems, the longer the care plan. The more detailed and referenced the instructors want it, the longer it will be. When I worked in LTC's we had one page care plans.

MRSLEAN709 · Nov 12, 2006

I guess it depends on what you are being asked to present to your instructors. My longest care plan was 48 pages when I was in nursing school getting my BSN. Most of the time, you could probably fit what you need on 6 to 8 pages. The more complicated the patient's problems, the longer the care plan. The more detailed and referenced the instructors want it, the longer it will be. When I worked in LTC's we had one page care plans.

Thank you for replying,Ive been an aide for 10yrs,Ohio

Halinja, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2006

I guess it depends on what you are being asked to present to your instructors. My longest care plan was 48 pages when I was in nursing school getting my BSN. Most of the time, you could probably fit what you need on 6 to 8 pages. The more complicated the patient's problems, the longer the care plan. The more detailed and referenced the instructors want it, the longer it will be. When I worked in LTC's we had one page care plans.

Mine have been anywhere from 6 to 50. Depends on the instructor, the patient, the specialty (or not, my longest ones were in med/surg) Often OB ones were fairly short as there were no complications.

I always tried to cover everything thoroughly. I know some people skimp the care plans, turning in only what is necessary, or copying from old care plans, friends plans etc. I absolutely do NOT recommend that. The things in nursing school I have learned the best, that stick with me, are the things I learned doing a care plan. Labs and what they mean, how disease really looks in a patient, what it boils down to in terms of nursing care. I resented care plans at first, but I quickly came to see their value. Its amazing how much you can learn from a well done care plan.