I'm about to graduate, and doing careplans tirelessly. I go to a school where we have 1 class every 5 weeks. It's intense, and we have different instructors every 5 weeks. It's hard to know what everyone wants. Some say, "copy out of the book", others say, "you can formulate a plan of care for these patients", etc. I understand the purpose of care plans, but fail to understand the everlasting purpose of care plans. Who doesn't have a pt that could fit the nursing dx of "pain" or "anxiety"...? Seriously? If you're in nursing school, you're somewhat of an adult. If you're telling me that someone in the hospital doesn't have anxiety you're out of your mind. Some of this stuff is just so common sense that it's ridiculous. I mean, we can't use medical terminology in our diagnoses, but we can in our r/t and secondary to's? To me that says we're not medical professionals. And even though we see the diagnosis in a chart, we STILL can't write that? It would take a professor 2 minutes to listen to a student verbalize a plan of care for any patient, as opposed to sending them home to spend a few hours on a written, mostly copied "care plan."
Like I said, I understand their purpose, but fail to see their ever present need. I don't mind doing them, because one: most of the info is common sense, and two: i plagiarize my butt off. And yes, I've told my instructors that very thing many times. But they continue to make me write them. So I ask, "Why do I need to rewrite what my NCP book already has typed up, edited, and bound for a teacher?" Any NCP book will give you everything you need for a successful NCP, why the need to rewrite everything? I think that if a teacher pulls you aside, for a minute or two, and asks you what you plan to do with your patient, should get a NCP. But why waste the time typing, researching, looking up, and plagiarizing? If you can't formulate a plan of care for a pt based on their needs, maybe you ought to be seeking a different degree?
Sorry if I offended anyone, not my intention at all. But I base my practice and care on the best advice given to me by a man who was once my wifes nurse, and the one who made me decide to follow his path. And that is - "What would you want done if you were the one lying in that hospital bed?" NCP's are easy, common sense approaches to nursing.
