careplans

Nursing Students General Students

Published

What are careplans and are they as hard as people say they are?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in small hospital and the burn center.

Careplans are a plan for your patient. They aren't all that hard once you get the idea. Pretty much, is something we do every day in our heads, we just don't write them down. As nurses (especially nursing students) we're required to write them down step by step. Once you become proficient at them, they become second nature.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology, Med-Surg, Nursery.

Careplans can be confusing, but once you get the hang of them...they really aren't that bad. My only issue with them is each instructor tends to grade differently, so I might make a really good grade with one and a lower grade with another when I am following the same thought process and applying the same things I have learned. They can be overwhelming at first, but you'll get the hang of it. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

careplans are the written documentation of the nursing process which is, in actuality, a problem solving process that nurses use. in nursing school, rns in particular, will focus on learning the nursing process (problem solving process) because this is a big part of what the job of an rn requires. it's what i did on the job as an rn for years--solve problems. you "think" the nursing process in your head all the time, but you commit it to paper in order to document it for the patient's medical record (chart). there is a distinct step-by-step procedure that you will be taught. a care plan is designed (customized) to follow that step-by step procedure specifically for the problems of one patient. you actually already know and have used this step-by-step procedure in your own life already for many different situations and problems you have run across and had to figure out and solve. nursing school has just given a fancy name to the process, expanded upon it, and will teach you how to write all that thinking down for posterity. in writing a care plan you will incorporate science principles you learned while taking your pre-requisite courses as well as new knowledge you are learning about how doctors treat medical diseases along with nursing principles that you are also learning.

who told you they were hard? hard is a subjective term. perhaps people think they are hard when they are first learning how to do them or never learned the right way to do them. however, it was also hard to learn to ride a 2-wheeler bike without training wheels or learn to roller skate, wasn't it? anything new is often a little difficult at first, but you work at learning and perfecting it and it becomes easier. rns in the hospitals and nursing homes must write care plans on all their patients--it's required by federal law. i, personally, don't happen to think that they are hard, but i've been doing them for years.

i answer a lot of questions about care plans for students here on the allnurses forums. there are 2, actually 3, sticky threads, specifically, that have information about care plans if you want to look at them to get an idea of what goes into care planning although it might not make a lot of sense to you at this time:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

While we as nursing students complain about doing care plans for school, I can see their value with patient care.

The care plan is simply a written representation of the nursing process. I find them helpful to gather my thoughts about a particular patient and streamline my care.

Each of my professors grade them differently, and focus on different aspects of the plan, but once you get a few really good ones under your belt, you'll find they become easier to do. Invest in a few good, quality care plan books, too. I have the Nursing Diagnosis book by Ackley and Ladwig and the All-in-One Care Plan book by Swearingen. I love them both.

Also, one of our instructors said that you can use other sources for interventions besides strict care plan books. For example, if you want to include medications in your care plan, simply choose the medication, apply an intervention, then for the rationale, provide the action of the drug. It's great!

Hope this helps...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

The trick is figuring out what your professor wants and after that they are easy. Time consuming but interesting and not difficult. Ours basically have us go by the books with Dx, interventions, outcomes etc. No sense reinventing the wheel. Good luck!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment