How did you remember the nursing process?

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Specializes in M/S, Peds.

So there are so many steps to the nursing process, and so many "things" that can fall into various ones? How did you remember the nursing process?

Any tips are welcome. I'm in the process of building my "foundation" and do not want any cracks as I work my way to med/surg in september.

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(ADOPIE) ASSESSMENT, DIAGNOSIS, OUTCOME IDENTIFICATION, PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION and EVALUATION.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

the nursing process is a series of 5 steps we use to solve a problem. the process can be used in the real world to solve problems as well. this is my analogy of the nursing process applied to a real world problem. it is posted on a number of threads around the allnurses site:

you are driving along and suddenly you hear a bang, you start having trouble controlling your car's direction and it's hard to keep your hands on the steering wheel. you pull over to the side of the road. "what's wrong?" you're thinking. you look over the dashboard and none of the warning lights are blinking. you decide to get out of the car and take a look at the outside of the vehicle. you start walking around it. then, you see it. a huge nail is sticking out of one of the rear tires and the tire is noticeably deflated. what you have just done is step #1 of the nursing process--performed an assessment. you determine that you have a flat tire. you have just done step #2 of the nursing process--made a diagnosis. the little squirrel starts running like crazy in the wheel up in your brain. "what do i do?" you are thinking. you could call aaa. no, you can save the money and do it yourself. you can replace the tire by changing out the flat one with the spare in the trunk. good thing you took that class in how to do simple maintenance and repairs on a car! you have just done step #3 of the nursing process--planning (developed a goal and intervention). you get the jack and spare tire out of the trunk, roll up your sleeves and get to work. you have just done step #4 of the nursing process--implementation of the plan. after the new tire is installed you put the flat one in the trunk along with the jack, dust yourself off, take a long drink of that bottle of water you had with you and prepare to drive off. you begin slowly to test the feel as you drive. good. everything seems fine. the spare tire seems to be ok and off you go and on your way. you have just done step #5 of the nursing process--evaluation (determined if your goal was met).

adpie is the abbreviation that is used to name the 5 steps.

  • a - assessment
  • d - diagnosis
  • p - plan
  • i - implementation
  • e - evaluation

here is the outline i have in current development with regard to adpie and care planning. early forms of it were posted on this thread in the nursing student discussion forum: https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/help-care-plans-286986.html - help with care plans.

  1. assessment (collect data from medical record, do a physical assessment of the patient, assess adl's, look up information about your patient's medical diseases/conditions to learn about the signs and symptoms and pathophysiology)
    • a physical assessment of the patient
    • assessment of the patient's ability and any assistance they need to accomplish their adls (activities of daily living) with the disease
    • data collected from the medical record (information in the doctor's history and physical, information in the doctor's progress notes, test result information, notes by ancillary healthcare providers such as physical therapists and dietitians (https://allnurses.com/nursing-student-assistance/help-preparing-clinical-227507.html)
    • knowing the pathophysiology, signs/symptoms, usual tests ordered, and medical treatment for the medical disease or condition that the patient has. this includes knowing about any medical procedures that have been performed on the patient, their expected consequences during the healing phase, and potential complications. if this information is not known, then you need to research and find it.

[*]reviewing the signs, symptoms and side effects of the medications/treatments that have been ordered and that the patient is taking

[*]determination of the patient's problem(s)/nursing diagnosis (make a list of the abnormal assessment data, match your abnormal assessment data to likely nursing diagnoses, decide on the nursing diagnoses to use). it helps to have a book with nursing diagnosis reference information in it. there are a number of ways to acquire this information.

[*]planning (write measurable goals/outcomes and nursing interventions)

  • goals/outcomes are the predicted results of the nursing interventions you will be ordering and performing. they have the following overall effect on the problem:

    [*]interventions are of four types

    • assess/monitor/evaluate/observe (to evaluate the patient's condition)
      • note: be clear that this is assessment as an intervention and not assessment done as part of the initial data collection during step 1.

      [*]care/perform/provide/assist (performing actual patient care)

      [*]teach/educate/instruct/supervise (educating patient or caregiver)

      [*]manage/refer/contact/notify (managing the care on behalf of the patient or caregiver)

[*]implementation (initiate the care plan)

[*]evaluation (determine if goals/outcomes have been met) - this is an assessment. you will specifically look for the defining characteristics that supported your nursing diagnoses to see if, or how, they have changed (improved, stabilized or gotten worse) as well as for the evidence of any new nursing problems.

below are weblinks to sites that have information about the nursing process. i suggest that if you like what is on them that you copy and paste it to open documents that you can save because these things sometimes tend to disappear off the internet. the more you look at and read the information the more it sinks in. the beginning chapters of most care plan books also contain information about the nursing process.

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Specializes in M/S, Peds.

Daytonight you are awesome!!!!! thanks so much

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Specializes in oncology, med/surg (all kinds).

understanding the principles behind the words, i just thought of one of my favorite things:

a delicious pie

a (assessment)

delicious (diagnosis)

p (plan) i (implementation) e (evaluation)

now i am hungry.

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nlion87 :chuckle That is so funny (ADOPIE) that is exactly how I remember the nursing process!!! At first I thought of Adobe - then it was like ADOPIE, duh. :chuckle

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I love the "a delicious pie" memory aid!

When choosing a "problem", remember to keep it simple and that nursing's focus is to treat the patient's response to the disease, not the disease itself.

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