Learning how to write care plans, HELP

[ashagerg]

So, I am a 1st semester nursing student and we just started learning about how to write the beginning process of care plans. Currently, we are just writing out the diagnosis, plan (expected outcome), intervention, and evaluation. The problem I am having is that I cannot figure out why I am having such a hard time writing the diagnosis, outcome, and intervention! When I do, it sounds like I am just rewording my expected OUTCOME into my intervention. It's so frustrating!!! For example:

Anxiety R/T test taking AEB inability to get enough sleep before a test, second guessing myself during the exam

Plan (Expected Outcome): I will STATE I feel calm after the exam is over? I will VERBALIZE my that I am prepared and can pass the exam before the exam begins? I will DEMONSTRATE proper breathing techniques to calm myself before the exam begins? (Are these appropriate?)

Intervention (THIS is where I am stuck?) Do I put "I will" or just "UTILIZE the wellness department at the college to help control my test anxiety"??

We are doing self care plans right now so this is where these are coming from. It's just confusing!! Am I crazy?

Thank you!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

GrnTea and Esme are two of our long time posters who often post in threads with care plan assistance. If you put their names and nursing diagnosis in the search bar at the top of the page, you will likely find a wealth of information beyond what you are asking for that you can use for future reference.

[NurseGirl525, ASN, RN]

You need a good nursing diagnosis book. It is worth it's weight in gold, trust me. When I first started nursing school last fall, we had a terrible care plan book that even our instructor said was awful. For some reason they put the wrong one on the list and it was what ended up in the bookstore so they didn't change it. I tried and tried to work with that thing and was getting nowhere with it. I went to one of the instructors one day and she loaned me an old one from her office so I could kind of get an idea on how to write the nursing dx. I have also read a lot of GrnTea's and Esme's posts on these. I was beginning to get a grasp on it but was still having some issues.

Finally, last spring, I was on break and looking through some books in the bookstore. They had a nursing dx book in there and I started leafing through it. I decided to buy it and from there on out I had no problems with my care plans at all. All of the info I need is right in there. Everything that I had been reading here and hearing from other people finally clicked with me and now I get A's on all of my care plans. Sometimes I may not prioritize something correctly but the dx, interventions, and outcomes are all right there. You really need to get one.