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Discussion

Concept Mapping Understanding

Maybe my brain just isn't wired the same as the powers to be at my school, but I fail to see the merit of wasting time to draw silly little boxes, circles, and any other useless shape when defining a care plan.

All of the information has been recorded in chart format elsewhere, and I am very capable of assembling the data in my head to devise a care plan.

Am I the only one that is operating in the dark ages here, or is it common at all nursing schools?? It amazes me how a high tech profession teaches with arcane teaching methods, and continues to stay in business.:imbar

Before anyone thinks that I am struggling or failing nursing school, I was in the top five of my class last semester, finishing with an 88 and still made the Dean's list, and that was after we lost over half of our class.

I hate doing busy work!! :banghead:

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Last semester, I did the maps just cause I had to. THEY were busy work.

With the way we're having to do concept maps this semster (different format and different expectations), theyre actually helping me to realize the pathophysiology between certain things ie labs and conditions.

Its the care plans that i think are busy work..;) LOL

My school does concept maps too. I think they all do, actually. I don't really see how they are any different or better than a care plan, but some people in my class seem to like them more. I am pretty much indifferent. They both are annoying. :-/

I don't see the point in doing concept maps.

  • Experts

The point of having students do a concept map (or a care plan) is to help them learn how to organize their thoughts and see relationships between concepts. You may not need that help, but other students do.

Most learning activities are not needed by 100% of the students. What helps you might be a total waste of time for someone else. And what helps someone else, might not help you at all. For example, some people learn best from lecutures: others learn very little. Some people benefit from role playing: others do not.

That's just the way life is. You will find it to be true throughout your life, not just in school. Teachers use a variety of methods in order to try to "hit" the majority of students in one way or another with the key content. Some of the methods will appeal to you: some will not. Some will help you: some will not.

Few students like doing care plans or concept maps. But many students need them because they enter school without the ability to organize their thoughts well. Care plans and/or concepts provide a structure that these students need to succeed.

  • Experts

perhaps you should read this current sticky on the general nursing student

discussion forum: https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/rant-student-care-plans-what-s-their-purpose-321788.html.

captron74. . .all of the information has been recorded in chart format elsewhere, and i am very capable of assembling the data in my head to devise a care plan.

that is incorrect. there is no other chart format where our critical thinking process has been documented other than a care plan.
care planning is written documentation of critical thinking and problem solving
.

data for care plans doesn't just come from a patient's chart! it also comes from knowledge of diseases and their treatment, knowing the pathophysiology of the medical disease/condition that the patient has, what the usual treatments and tests are that are likely to be ordered for it and what potential complications could occur. that requires your critical thinking skill and processing. the only place that is going to get documented is in a care plan that you write.

crux1024 says " did the maps just cause i had to. they were busy work."

jorhyne says "i don't see the point in doing concept maps."

a care map is merely
a type
of physical presentation of a nursing care plan. there are other types: an essay (case study), a table (the most common) and clinical pathways (incorporates charting along with the care plan). a nursing care plan is, as i said above, written documentation of how you used critical thinking to solve a patient's nursing problems. the steps of the nursing process are used to accomplish this.

the purpose of students doing care plans is to assist them in pulling information from many different scientific disciplines as they learn to think critically and use the nursing process to problem solve.

this is
not
the same purpose of care plans done by employed licensed nurses in the work place. those care plans are done to
document
the thinking process behind the solutions to patient's nursing problems and they become a permanent part of the patient's chart.

why must you learn this skill? federal law mandates that a care plan be written and included in patient's charts. whether you learn how to make a care map, a table or a clinical pathway, you must know the steps of how to write a care plan or an employer will discipline you for not doing so as an rn. as a practicing nurse you will be using critical thinking to solve patient problems every day of your working life. that is what you are being hired and paid to do. care planning in nursing school is preparing you for that.

it seems to me that if someone is excellent at doing care maps then they need to be figuring out ways of helping those who are having difficulty understanding and doing them.

Besides the in depth justification of care maps written above me.

What you are going to have to understand is that when you get into the nursing field there are going to be a lot of processes, or documentation or politics that you might find frustrating or unnecessary.

You need to learn to deal with these things you think are unnecessary now, because you will face things like that on a daily bases.

Also although some hospitals use caring plans (maps) and others don't. There is a legal responsibility of the hospital to have a written plan of care for patients with different diagnosis. Sometimes these are pre-written for common surgeries or procedures and recovery. Sometimes these are written by the nurses and doctors.

Well come to a land where if it isn't written/ documented it did not happen and you are open to be sued.

I am not a nurse but a social psychologist and developing the practice and philosophy of concept-mapping for quite some years now. It is all about constructive recollection and personal memory management. When we can see situations from all sides, as they return across time one way or another, then they enable us to see sharper and understand better what we are dealing with all the time.

Hello. I was wondering if there are any classes available to help with care planning

I am currently in the 2nd year of our community 2 year nursing program and we are the last class that use care plans. All classes after us are using the concept mapping and I was not only curious about them but wanted to learn them in case I would have to use them in the future.

I have recently purchased the book Concept Mapping: A Critical-Thinking Aprroach to Care Planning by Pamela McHugh Schuster. I have read about half of the book and actually it makes a lot of sense and makes the process of learning about the patient and creating the care plan a lot easier. They help you understand how every part of the patient's problems are related to each other.

I think the concept mapping idea is really good. I kind of wish the program I am in would have taught us this from the beginning. I think I would have understood things more easily and quickly.

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