Nursing Care Plan Book

LKG6 · Oct 7, 2007

Before I buy a Nursing Care Plan book can anyone reccommend a good one with lots of examples of interventions and goals? Thank you all in advance for your reply.

I like Ackley's book. Also do a search here, we have many care plan book threads.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2007

no book is going to satisfy everything you will need. each author includes things in their books that they have found important during their practice and experience.

for nursing diagnosis alone, i use as a reference nanda-i nursing diagnoses: definitions & classification 2007-2008 published by nanda international. cost is $24.95. however, i also have copies of:

nursing diagnosis handbook: a guide to planning care, 7th edition, by betty j. ackley and gail b. ladwig. it costs $39.95. there may be an 8th edition coming out.
nursing care plans: nursing diagnosis and intervention, 6th edition, by meg gulanick and judith l. myers was specifically written for and is often recommended for nursing students.
nursing care plans: guidelines for individualizing client care across the life span, 7th edition, by marilynn e. doenges, mary frances moorhouse and alice c. murr

for many years as a practicing rn i used the care plan book that was written by lynda juall carpenito. i don't know what the current edition is. you will find that most of the nursing interventions you need are actually in your nursing textbooks or a nclex review book if you have one. there are also two specific books that have complete listings of nursing goals and interventions:

nursing outcomes classification (noc), third edition, by sue moorhead, marion johnson and meridean maas. $49.95
nursing interventions classification (nic), by joanne mccloskey mccloskey dochterman, gloria m. bulechek, gloria m. bulechek. $49.95

before you buy any book go to a large bookstore that might have a copy of them and look through them. you can also see the table of contents of these books on websites like barnes & noble and amazon.

IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Oct 7, 2007

I have the 2007-2008 NANDA book and I'm so glad I do. I like making sure I'm using a current diagnosis and an accurate one. Sometimes I find that what I want to use isn't actually appropriate for my patient. Now my instructors honestly wouldn't know but I try to do it accurately just for myself.

The NANDA book doesn't give interventions but I'm so glad I have it.

I have a Mosby's book as well in the travel size. I use it to get some ideas for interventions when I'm really stuck but I use my NANDA more since I can think up interventions but don't know the accurate definition of all the diagnoses.

ZooMommyRN, ADN, RN · Oct 7, 2007

I have the first 3 that Daytonite recommended and I have used Swearingen's All In One Care Planning which I believe the new edition comes out this month, as well as a NANDA book and have found all of them equally useful when writing up careplans, they are well worth the investment

DaFreak71 · Oct 8, 2007

I've used "All-in-One Care Planning Resource" by Swearingen and also "Nursing Care Plans, 7th edition" by Doenges, Moorhouse, and Murr. But you know where my best care plans came from?

The text book! In our text books they give a sample copy of what a care plan for each condition would look like. Or most conditions anyway. That way if you get an unsatisfactory grade on your care plan, just point to the text book.

Side note--This isn't just advice, it's IMPERATIVE....before you EVER turn in a care plan, ask your clinical instructor to critique it. Make his/her suggested changes before turning it in. I promise you'll get a better grade! After all, if you make the suggested changes it would be hard to justify giving you a low grade.

MB37 · Oct 31, 2007

OK, I have the Gulanick/Myers book - it's what our school required. We've just started doing care plans, and maybe I just need more experience, but it seems like this book is really focused on a patient's medical diagnosis. I'm new at this, so I need all the help I can get. What I'm looking for is another book that has every current NANDA diagnosis, as many related factors and defining characteristics as possible (so I can really learn the difference between, say, all the diagnoses that relate to airway/breathing), and some interventions/assessments that are commonly done. Is there a book out there that fits that description? I'm sure the way this book is organized will be really helpful for a lot of medical diagnoses, but sometimes we have patients with other problems as well. I was having trouble finding information on diagnoses that aren't covered in chapter 2. I'll try to find time to go to a bookstore and page through them as well, but if anyone can recommend something here I'll look at that first. Thanks!

Edited to add: after a short trip to amazon, the reviews for the Ackley book sound like it's more like what I'm looking for. I like to have books that approach each subject from different angles. Does this sound like it would fit my needs to people who already own this book? Thanks!

IrishIzCPNP, MSN, RN, APRN, NP · Oct 31, 2007

After all, if you make the suggested changes it would be hard to justify giving you a low grade.

We don't get graded on them

I really wish we did. I always get amazing comments on them...excellent written on the front and sometimes on every page. I'm told that any writing they do is just to further things a little bit and make it more exact and usually it's questioning something that actually had no answer to it.

Man I wish we were graded...

Neats, BSN · Oct 31, 2007

I would like to thank all who replied regarding care plan books. After careful consideration of the many wonderful comments I have purchased several nursing care plan books which will take me through the rest of my nursing school and future references as an RN.

I just want you all to know I appreciate this nursing forum.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Nov 1, 2007

what i'm looking for is another book that has every current nanda diagnosis, as many related factors and defining characteristics as possible (so i can really learn the difference between, say, all the diagnoses that relate to airway/breathing), and some interventions/assessments that are commonly done. is there a book out there that fits that description?

the definitive work that has the current nanda diagnoses, all 188 of them, all the related factors and defining characteristics is nanda-i nursing diagnoses: definitions & classification 2007-2008 published by nanda international. the cost is only $24.95 and you order it directly from nanda from here: http://www.nanda.org/html/nursing_diagnosis.html. this is the work that all the nursing care plan books and nursing diagnosis books in publication today use as their reference for nursing diagnoses. they pay nanda a royalty for using the information.

all the care plan books and nursing diagnosis books on the commercial market add extras to the nanda information: interventions, goals, etc., so that is also what you are paying for when you buy those books. each author(s) adds their own twist and spin to them.

there are actually two books that have a list of outcomes and interventions that you can also purchase. these two projects have been working hand and hand with nanda and you will often see some of their stuff cited in care plan and nursing diagnosis books. these are the nics (nursing intervention classifications) and nocs (nursing outcomes classifications).

nursing outcomes classification (noc), third edition, by sue moorhead, marion johnson and meridean maas. cost is $49.95.
nursing interventions classification (nic), by joanne mccloskey mccloskey dochterman, gloria m. bulechek, gloria m. bulechek. cost is $49.95.

if you know what you are doing in putting together a care plan, that is performing a thorough assessment, determining the nursing diagnosis and then planning the care, those 3 books are really all you need. you might want something like the section ii guide to nursing diagnoses in nursing diagnosis handbook: a guide to planning care, 7th edition, by betty j. ackley and gail b. ladwig which is an alphabetized list of medical diagnoses, diagnostic procedures, clinical states, symptoms, and problems that cross matches you with suggested nursing diagnoses to help you out here and there to save you time hunting down a nursing diagnosis. when i am answering nursing diagnosis questions on the student forums i am almost exclusively using my copy of nanda-i nursing diagnoses: definitions & classification 2007-2008 as a reference and you will often see me quote it as the reference i am using.