Nursing Diagnoses Handbook

[Student2304]

I am putting together a care plan, I have all my diagnoses.

if I use some of the interventions right out of the handbook do I have to use them as a quote in my careplan or just reference it on my reference page? this is a school project.

[RNTutor, BSN, RN]

The rule for using "quotations" versus just referencing depends on whether you are taking the information verbatim, or if you are summarizing. If you are copying word for word out of the book, then you need to use "quotations" AND cite the reference.

If you are summarizing in your own words, then you can just cite the reference. For the purposes of a care plan, this is usually the better option. After all, the teacher doesn't want to know what it says in the book, she can look it up herself. She wants to know if you understand what to do. So I would recommend trying to rephrase the intervention into your own words then cite the reference.

[notmanydaysoff]

There are just so many ways to say, for example, that a pt is at R/F falls, R/T visual/hearing difficulties, orthostatic hypotension, lower limb prosthesis, AEB unsteady gait, fall Hx, etc.

We are not writing the great american novel here or doing original research that will be peer reviewed or appear in professional journals. Whilst I do try to not copy verbatim out of my nrsg dx book, sometimes I just do.

At other times, a nrsg dx does require a bit more thought. It is then that I put extra effort into the task.

So far my instructors have not found fault with my work. And I must say that after reading the why's and wherefore's of nrsg dx, as well as how to use the nrsg dx text (nurse's pocket guide, edition 11), the rationale behind developing a nrsg dx/nrsg care plan has become clear.

In addition, one of the hospitals where we do clincial rotations has a check box system that is handy and really cuts down on the amt of time and thought processes it takes to prepare a care plan.

I'd be curious to know other's thoughts on this.

[RNTutor, BSN, RN]

I think she was asking more in terms of the Implementations, which do tend to be a little more wordy than the actual nursing dx. If we are talking about the nursing dx, then I agree, no quotations (or even citations) required.

The check box way of doing things is convenient, but not very helpful for learning the nursing process. It's a short-cut method that might be appropriate for experienced RNs who already have a firm understanding of nursing processes. But for a nursing student, I think it is inappropriate because then you never have the opportunity to practice the thought processes it takes to go through the whole nursing process.

It's kind of like doing a math problem. When you're learning a new type of math problem, you should explicitly write out every step so that you are less likely to make a mistake (and if you do, you can check to see where you went wrong). After you have practiced and become an expert at that type of math problem, you can start using short-cut methods to solve it. If you jump straight to the short-cut methods, you're going to get a lot of problems wrong.