How to write a nursing GOAL?

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2008

No....a goal must be specfic and measureable...your goal does not fit. AMB figure into writing a nursing diagnosis....

So a better way to write that goal would be Client will reduce smoking to less than 1 pack a day within 1 month.

tiggerdagibit · Jun 23, 2008

The goal (outcome) doesn't have 'as evidenced by' in it. That's for the nursing diagnosis part. We were taught the goal had to be SMART.

Specific
Measurable
Attainable
Realistic
Timed

So.. reduce smoking or quit smoking isn't specific.

For example:

"The patient will lose weight" isn't specific or timed but "The patient will lose 10 pounds in 2 months" is specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timed.

Hope this helps!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2008

"Client will reduce smoking or quit smoking within 2 months as evidenced by client not smoking."

This is only partially correct. The part, will reduce smoking or quit smoking should be one or the other. Be definitive. If the patient reduces his/her smoking put it in specific terms such as will reduce smoking to half a pack a day or will reduce smoking to one cigarette after meals only, along those lines. If possible, the patient should participate and agree to these terms as well or they are not going to cooperate.

Is 2 months a realistic time frame? Did you research this?

Your as evidenced by part of the goal statement is going to be your assessment data that you will be looking for in your future time frame, which is like an appointment to meet up with the patient in order to assess the success or failure of your treatment plan. So, in essence, you are creating a list of criteria you are hoping the patient is going to report back to you if he/she has been successful at either reducing or quitting smoking when they report back to you. So, think about how you would go about assessing that and what positive responses
you would want to get from the patient. This is different from the care planning assessments that we do where we are looking for the negative responses that we get from patients that form the basis of evidence to support problems. And that should be a bit of a hint to you that nursing goals are often the positive, or reverse, of negative assessment symptoms or the nursing problem itself with realistic and achievable time frames attached to them.

Hope that helps and gives you a better idea of how to develop and word these. Once you have written your goal statement, your nursing interventions then need to reflect and support moving toward accomplishing it.