Crafting an effective nursing care plan is a cornerstone of quality patient care. It’s a systematic approach that not only addresses current health needs but also anticipates potential risks. This guide is designed to provide a thorough understanding of nursing care plans, with a particular focus on the critical role of Diagnosis In Nursing Care Plan development. Whether you are a student nurse or a seasoned professional, this resource will enhance your ability to create comprehensive and patient-centered care plans. We offer an extensive database of nursing care plans (NCPs) and nursing diagnosis examples, freely accessible to support both learning and practice. This article will explore the essential components, objectives, and purposes of nursing care plans, offering detailed guidance and templates for immediate use in your clinical setting.
Understanding Nursing Care Plans
A nursing care plan (NCP) is a formalized, dynamic process utilized by nurses to pinpoint a patient’s existing health needs and to foresee potential health issues or risks. These plans are vital for fostering clear communication among nurses, patients, and the broader healthcare team, ensuring a coordinated approach to achieve optimal health outcomes. The absence of a structured nursing care planning process can compromise the consistency and quality of patient care.
The nursing care planning process is initiated upon a patient’s admission and remains a living document, continuously updated to reflect changes in the patient’s condition and the outcomes of care evaluations. Delivering individualized, patient-centered care is the hallmark of excellent nursing practice, and the care plan serves as the blueprint for this approach.
Types of Nursing Care Plans
Nursing care plans can be broadly classified as informal or formal. An informal nursing care plan is essentially a mental strategy, a nurse’s internal roadmap for patient care. In contrast, a formal nursing care plan is a documented, either written or electronic, guide that organizes all pertinent patient care information in a structured manner.
Formal care plans are further categorized into standardized and individualized types. Standardized care plans are designed to address the common needs of patient groups with similar conditions. Individualized care plans, on the other hand, are specifically tailored to meet a patient’s unique needs that are not adequately covered by standardized plans.
Standardized Care Plans: Ensuring Consistent Care
Standardized care plans are pre-established protocols developed by nursing staff and healthcare institutions to guarantee that patients with specific conditions receive consistent, baseline care. These plans are crucial for setting minimum care standards and maximizing efficiency by eliminating redundant planning for routine patient needs.
While standardized care plans provide a valuable starting point, they are not designed to address the specific nuances of each patient’s condition and goals. They often serve as a foundation upon which to build a more personalized individualized care plan.
The care plans provided within this guide are examples of standard care plans, intended to serve as a framework for developing individualized plans.
Individualized Care Plans: Tailoring Care to the Patient
An individualized care plan takes a standardized plan and customizes it to meet the unique health goals and needs of a specific patient. This involves incorporating approaches known to be particularly effective for that individual. This personalized approach promotes more holistic care, aligning with the patient’s specific strengths, needs, and objectives.
Furthermore, individualized care plans are known to enhance patient satisfaction. When patients perceive their care as being tailored to their personal needs, they are more likely to feel valued and understood, leading to a more positive healthcare experience. In today’s healthcare landscape, where patient satisfaction is a key indicator of quality, this aspect is increasingly significant.
Key Considerations for Individualizing a Nursing Care Plan:
Objectives of Nursing Care Plans
Nursing care plans are designed to achieve several key objectives that enhance both the process and outcomes of patient care:
- To promote evidence-based nursing practices and create a comfortable and familiar care environment within healthcare settings.
- To support holistic care, addressing the patient’s physical, psychological, social, and spiritual dimensions in disease management and prevention.
- To establish structured care programs such as care pathways and care bundles. Care pathways ensure a collaborative, team-based approach to reach consensus on care standards and expected outcomes, while care bundles focus on implementing best practices for specific conditions.
- To clearly define and differentiate between broad goals and specific, measurable expected outcomes.
- To improve communication and documentation of the entire care process, ensuring clarity and accountability.
- To provide a framework for measuring and evaluating the effectiveness of nursing care interventions.
Purposes and Importance of Nursing Care Plans
Nursing care plans serve several critical purposes that underscore their importance in modern healthcare:
- Defining the Nurse’s Role: Care plans delineate the distinct and independent role of nurses in addressing patients’ overall health and wellness, moving beyond mere execution of physician’s orders to encompass comprehensive patient care.
- Guiding Individualized Patient Care: They act as a detailed roadmap for patient care, encouraging nurses to apply critical thinking to develop interventions tailored to each patient’s unique needs.
- Ensuring Continuity of Care: By providing a consistent data source, care plans enable nurses across different shifts and departments to deliver uniform, high-quality interventions, maximizing the benefits of treatment for patients.
- Coordinating Healthcare Team Efforts: Care plans ensure that all members of the healthcare team are informed about the patient’s needs and the necessary actions to meet them, preventing fragmentation of care.
- Documentation and Accountability: They accurately document observations, nursing actions, and patient/family instructions. Proper documentation in the care plan provides evidence that care was indeed provided.
- Facilitating Staff Assignment: Care plans assist in matching patient needs with staff skills, ensuring that patients are cared for by professionals with the appropriate expertise.
- Monitoring Patient Progress: They are essential tools for tracking patient progress and adapting care strategies as health conditions and goals evolve.
- Supporting Reimbursement Processes: Insurance providers often rely on medical records, including care plans, to validate and determine reimbursement for hospital services.
- Defining Patient-Centered Goals: Care plans actively involve patients in their treatment and care, fostering a collaborative approach that benefits both patients and healthcare providers.
Components of a Nursing Care Plan
A comprehensive nursing care plan (NCP) typically includes several key components, each playing a vital role in guiding patient care. These components are: nursing diagnoses, patient problems, expected outcomes, nursing interventions, and rationales.
Care Plan Formats: Structuring for Clarity
Nursing care plans are often structured using different column formats to organize information effectively. The most common formats include three-column and four-column plans, with some agencies also utilizing a five-column format.
Three-Column Format
The three-column format simplifies the care plan by organizing information into nursing diagnoses, a combined column for outcomes and evaluation, and nursing interventions.
Four-Column Format
The four-column format provides a more detailed structure, separating outcomes and evaluation into distinct columns alongside nursing diagnoses and interventions.
Below are sample templates for various nursing care plan formats available for download, modification, and sharing:
Download: Printable Nursing Care Plan Templates and Formats
Student Care Plans: Detailed Learning Tools
Student care plans are designed to be more in-depth and detailed compared to those used by practicing nurses. They serve as a crucial learning tool, helping student nurses develop critical thinking and planning skills.
Often, student care plans are handwritten and include an additional column for “Rationale” or “Scientific Explanation.” This column is crucial for students as it requires them to articulate the scientific basis for each nursing intervention, reinforcing their understanding of the principles guiding patient care.
Writing a Nursing Care Plan: A Step-by-Step Guide
Developing a nursing care plan (NCP) involves a systematic process. Follow these steps to create an effective care plan for your patient:
Step 1: Data Collection and Assessment
The initial step in creating a nursing care plan is comprehensive data collection. This involves building a patient database using various assessment techniques and data collection methods including physical assessments, health history interviews, reviews of medical records, and diagnostic studies. This database compiles all relevant health information gathered about the patient. During this phase, nurses identify related or risk factors and defining characteristics that are crucial for formulating accurate nursing diagnoses. Many healthcare facilities and nursing schools provide specific assessment formats to guide this process.
Critical thinking is paramount in patient assessment, requiring nurses to integrate knowledge from various scientific disciplines and professional guidelines to inform their evaluations. This process is essential for complex clinical decision-making and aims to effectively identify patients’ healthcare needs within a supportive environment and using reliable information.
Step 2: Data Analysis and Organization
Once patient data is collected, the next step involves analysis, clustering, and organization of this information. This structured approach is essential for formulating nursing diagnoses, determining care priorities, and setting desired patient outcomes.
Step 3: Formulating Nursing Diagnoses
Nursing diagnoses are standardized statements that identify and focus on specific patient needs and responses to both actual and potential health problems. They represent health issues that can be addressed, prevented, or resolved through independent nursing interventions.
For a detailed guide on formulating nursing diagnoses, refer to our comprehensive resource: Nursing Diagnosis (NDx): Complete Guide and List.
The formulation of a nursing diagnosis is a critical step in the care plan, as it directly influences the subsequent interventions and expected outcomes. A well-defined diagnosis ensures that the care plan is targeted and effective.
Step 4: Setting Priorities
Priority setting involves sequencing nursing diagnoses and interventions based on their urgency and importance. In this step, nurses collaborate with patients to determine which identified problems require immediate attention. Diagnoses are typically categorized as high, medium, or low priority. Life-threatening issues are, of course, assigned the highest priority.
Nursing diagnoses are often prioritized using frameworks like Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which helps in planning care based on patient-centered outcomes. Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy, developed in 1943, outlines fundamental human needs in a hierarchical order, suggesting that basic physiological needs must be met before higher-level needs such as self-esteem and self-actualization can be addressed. Physiological and safety needs form the foundation of nursing care and interventions, serving as the base of Maslow’s pyramid and underpinning both physical and emotional health.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in Nursing Priority Setting:
- Basic Physiological Needs: These include the essentials for survival: nutrition (food and water), elimination (toileting), airway management (suctioning), breathing support (oxygen administration), circulation management (monitoring pulse and blood pressure), sleep, sexual health, shelter, and exercise.
- Safety and Security Needs: Focus on preventing harm and ensuring patient safety through measures like injury prevention (using side rails, call lights, hand hygiene, isolation protocols, suicide precautions, fall prevention, car seats, helmets, seat belts), fostering trust and safety through therapeutic relationships, and patient education on modifiable risk factors (e.g., stroke, heart disease).
- Love and Belonging Needs: Address the patient’s social and emotional needs by fostering supportive relationships, preventing social isolation (addressing bullying), employing active listening and therapeutic communication, and supporting healthy sexual intimacy.
- Self-Esteem Needs: Involve building patient’s self-worth through community acceptance, workplace achievements, personal accomplishments, promoting a sense of control and empowerment, and acceptance of one’s physical appearance.
- Self-Actualization Needs: Focus on creating an empowering environment that supports spiritual growth, encourages the recognition of diverse perspectives, and helps patients achieve their maximum potential.
Learn more about it here.
Patient health values, beliefs, available resources, and the urgency of the health issues are crucial factors nurses must consider when setting priorities. Patient involvement in this process is essential to enhance cooperation and adherence to the care plan.
Step 5: Establishing Client Goals and Desired Outcomes
After prioritizing nursing diagnoses, nurses and patients collaborate to set goals for each priority. Goals or desired outcomes are statements that describe the intended results of nursing interventions derived from the nursing diagnoses. Goals provide direction for planning interventions, set criteria for evaluating patient progress, help both nurses and patients determine problem resolution, and offer motivation through a sense of achievement.
Typically, one overarching goal is established for each nursing diagnosis. The terms “goal outcomes” and “expected outcomes” are often used interchangeably.
Effective goals should be SMART, an acronym that stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-oriented.
- Specific: Goals should be clear, significant, and directly relevant to the patient’s needs.
- Measurable: Goals must be quantifiable to allow for progress monitoring and determination of achievement.
- Attainable: Goals should be achievable and feasible given the patient’s circumstances and resources.
- Realistic: Goals need to be relevant to the patient’s overall health condition and realistic within the context of their life and health challenges.
- Time-Oriented: Each goal should have a defined timeframe for achievement, creating a sense of urgency and focus.
Additionally, the REEPIG standards further refine goal setting to ensure high-quality care:
- Realistic: Goals must be achievable with available resources.
- Explicitly stated: Goals should be clearly articulated to prevent misinterpretation.
- Evidence-based: Interventions should be supported by research and best practices.
- Prioritized: The most critical problems should be addressed first.
- Involve: Goal setting should include both the patient and the multidisciplinary team.
- Goal-centered: All planned care should directly contribute to achieving the set goals.
Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
Goals and expected outcomes must be measurable and patient-centered, focusing on problem prevention, resolution, and rehabilitation. Goals are classified as short-term or long-term. In acute care settings, short-term goals are more common due to the immediate focus on patient needs. Long-term goals are typically used for patients with chronic conditions or those in long-term care facilities.
- Short-term goal: Defines a behavior change expected within a short period, usually hours to days.
- Long-term goal: Represents an objective to be achieved over a longer duration, typically weeks to months.
- Discharge planning: Primarily involves setting long-term goals to ensure continued recovery and problem resolution through home health services, physical therapy, or other referrals.
Components of Goals and Desired Outcomes
Goal statements typically include four components: a subject, a verb, conditions or modifiers, and a criterion of desired performance.
- Subject: Usually the patient, a part of the patient, or a patient attribute (e.g., pulse rate, temperature, urinary output). Often omitted for brevity, assuming the subject is the patient unless otherwise specified.
- Verb: Specifies the action the patient is expected to perform, learn, or experience.
- Conditions or modifiers: Detail the circumstances under which the behavior is to be performed (what, when, where, how).
- Criterion of desired performance: Indicates the standard for evaluating performance or the level at which the patient will perform the specified behavior. This is often optional but adds precision to the goal.
Tips for Writing Effective Goals and Desired Outcomes:
- Frame goals and outcomes in terms of patient responses, not nurse activities. Start each goal with “Patient will […]” to maintain focus on patient behavior.
- Focus on what the patient will achieve, not what the nurse hopes to accomplish.
- Use observable and measurable terms. Avoid vague language that requires subjective interpretation.
- Ensure outcomes are realistic given the patient’s resources, abilities, limitations, and the care timeline.
- Verify goals are compatible with other therapies and healthcare professionals’ plans.
- Ensure each goal is derived from a single nursing diagnosis to facilitate clear evaluation.
- Confirm that goals are important and valued by the patient to ensure their cooperation and engagement.
Step 6: Selecting Nursing Interventions
Nursing interventions are the specific actions nurses will perform to help patients achieve their goals. Interventions should aim to address the root cause or reduce the impact of the identified nursing problem or diagnosis. For risk diagnoses, interventions should focus on minimizing risk factors. Nursing interventions are identified and documented during the planning phase of the nursing process but are actually implemented during the implementation phase.
Types of Nursing Interventions
Nursing interventions can be categorized as independent, dependent, or collaborative.
- Independent nursing interventions are actions nurses are authorized to initiate based on their professional judgment and skills. These include ongoing assessments, emotional support, comfort measures, patient education, physical care, and referrals to other healthcare services.
- Dependent nursing interventions are actions carried out under a physician’s orders or supervision. These typically include administering medications, intravenous therapy, diagnostic tests, treatments, dietary orders, and activity or rest directives. Nurses also play a role in assessing patients and providing explanations when carrying out these orders.
- Collaborative interventions involve actions nurses undertake in partnership with other healthcare team members like physicians, social workers, dietitians, and therapists. These are developed through consultation to integrate various professional perspectives into patient care.
Effective Nursing Interventions Should Be:
- Safe and suitable for the patient’s age, health status, and condition.
- Achievable given available resources and time constraints.
- Consistent with the patient’s values, culture, and beliefs.
- Aligned with other therapies the patient is receiving.
- Based on established nursing knowledge, experience, and relevant scientific principles.
Tips for Writing Nursing Interventions:
- Date and sign the care plan to ensure accountability and to facilitate future reviews and evaluations.
- Interventions should be specific and clearly worded, starting with an action verb that precisely describes what the nurse is to do. Include qualifiers specifying how, when, where, how long, how often, and in what amount the action should be performed. For example: “Educate parents on how to measure temperature and report any changes,” or “Assess urine for color, amount, odor, and turbidity every shift.”
- Use only institution-approved abbreviations to maintain clarity and avoid misunderstandings.
Step 7: Providing Rationales
Rationales, or scientific explanations, are essential for justifying why specific nursing interventions are chosen for the NCP.
Rationales are typically included in student care plans to help them link pathophysiological and psychological principles to nursing interventions. While not always included in professional care plans, they are valuable for educational purposes and for deepening understanding of care protocols.
Step 8: Evaluation
Evaluation is a structured, continuous process to assess the patient’s progress toward achieving the set goals and to determine the effectiveness of the nursing care plan (NCP). This step is crucial in the nursing process as it informs decisions about whether to continue, modify, or discontinue specific nursing interventions.
Step 9: Documentation
The final step is documenting the patient’s care plan in accordance with hospital policy, making it part of the patient’s permanent medical record. This ensures that the care plan is accessible for review by all members of the healthcare team, including oncoming nurses. Nursing programs often have specific care plan formats, many of which follow a five-column structure to systematically guide students through the nursing process.
Nursing Care Plan Examples
This section provides a list of sample nursing care plans (NCPs) and nursing diagnoses for a variety of health conditions, categorized for easy navigation.
Basic Nursing and General Care Plans
| Basic Nursing & General Care Plans |
|---|
| Acute Confusion (Delirium) and Altered Mental Status |
| Acute Pain and Pain Management |
| Activity Intolerance and Generalized Weakness |
| Cancer (Oncology Nursing) |
| Caregiver Role Strain and Family Caregiver Support Systems |
| Chronic Confusion (Dementia) |
| End-of-Life Care (Hospice Care or Palliative) |
| Fall Risk and Fall Prevention |
| Fatigue and Lethargy |
| Geriatric Nursing (Older Adult) |
| Grieving and Loss |
| Hypothermia and Cold Injuries |
| Hyperthermia (Fever) |
| Impaired Swallowing (Dysphagia) |
| Insomnia and Sleep Deprivation |
| Prolonged Bed Rest |
| Risk for Injury and Patient Safety |
| Self-Care and Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) |
| Surgery (Perioperative Client) |
| Systemic Lupus Erythematosus |
| Total Parenteral Nutrition |
Surgery and Perioperative Care Plans
| Surgery and Perioperative Care Plans |
|---|
| Amputation |
| Appendectomy |
| Cholecystectomy |
| Fracture UPDATED! |
| Hemorrhoids |
| Hysterectomy |
| Ileostomy & Colostomy |
| Laminectomy (Disc Surgery) |
| Mastectomy |
| Subtotal Gastrectomy |
| Surgery (Perioperative Client) |
| Thyroidectomy |
| Total Joint (Knee, Hip) Replacement |
Cardiac Care Plans
| Cardiac Care Plans |
|---|
| Angina Pectoris (Coronary Artery Disease) |
| Cardiac Arrhythmia (Digitalis Toxicity) |
| Cardiac Catheterization |
| Cardiogenic Shock |
| Congenital Heart Disease |
| Decreased Cardiac Output & Cardiac Support |
| Heart Failure UPDATED! |
| Hypertension UPDATED! |
| Hypovolemic Shock |
| Impaired Tissue Perfusion & Ischemia |
| Myocardial Infarction |
| Pacemaker Therapy |
Endocrine and Metabolic Care Plans
| Endocrine and Metabolic Care Plans |
|---|
| Addison’s Disease |
| Cushing’s Disease |
| Diabetes Mellitus (Type 1, Type 2) UPDATED! |
| Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) and Hyperglycemic Hyperosmolar Nonketotic Syndrome (HHNS) |
| Eating Disorders: Anorexia & Bulimia Nervosa |
| Fluid Volume Deficit (Dehydration & Hypovolemia) |
| Fluid Volume Excess (Hypervolemia) |
| Gestational Diabetes Mellitus |
| Hyperthyroidism |
| Hypothyroidism |
| Imbalanced Nutrition (Malnutrition) |
| Obesity & Overweight |
| Thyroidectomy |
| Unstable Blood Glucose Levels (Hyperglycemia & Hypoglycemia) |
| Acid-Base Imbalances |
|---|
| Metabolic Acidosis |
| Metabolic Alkalosis |
| Respiratory Acidosis |
| Respiratory Alkalosis |
| Electrolyte Imbalances |
|---|
| Calcium (Ca) Imbalances: Hypercalcemia and Hypocalcemia |
| Magnesium (Mg) Imbalances: Hypermagnesemia and Hypomagnesemia |
| Potassium (K) Imbalances: Hyperkalemia and Hypokalemia |
| Sodium (Na) Imbalances: Hypernatremia and Hyponatremia |
Gastrointestinal Care Plans
| Gastrointestinal Care Plans |
|---|
| Appendectomy |
| Bowel Incontinence (Fecal Incontinence) |
| Cholecystectomy |
| Constipation |
| Diarrhea Nursing Care Plan and Management |
| Cholecystitis and Cholelithiasis |
| Gastroenteritis |
| Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) |
| Hemorrhoids |
| Hepatitis |
| Ileostomy & Colostomy |
| Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) |
| Intussusception |
| Liver Cirrhosis |
| Nausea & Vomiting |
| Pancreatitis |
| Peritonitis |
| Peptic Ulcer Disease |
| Subtotal Gastrectomy |
| Umbilical and Inguinal Hernia |
Hematologic and Lymphatic Care Plans
| Hematologic & Lymphatic Care Plans |
|---|
| Anaphylactic Shock |
| Anemia UPDATED! |
| Aortic Aneurysm |
| Bleeding Risk & Hemophilia |
| Deep Vein Thrombosis |
| Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation |
| Hemophilia |
| Kawasaki Disease |
| Leukemia |
| Lymphoma |
| Sepsis and Septicemia |
| Sickle Cell Anemia Crisis |
Infectious Diseases Care Plans
| Infectious Diseases Care Plans |
|---|
| Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) (HIV Positive) |
| Acute Rheumatic Fever |
| Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever |
| Herpes Zoster (Shingles) |
| Influenza (Flu) |
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis |
| Risk for Infection & Infection Control |
Integumentary Care Plans
| Integumentary Care Plans |
|---|
| Burn Injury |
| Dermatitis |
| Herpes Zoster (Shingles) |
| Pressure Ulcer (Bedsores) |
| Wound Care and Skin/Tissue Integrity |
Maternal and Newborn Care Plans
| Maternal and Newborn Care Plans |
|---|
| Abortion (Termination of Pregnancy) |
| Cervical Insufficiency (Premature Dilation of the Cervix) |
| Cesarean Birth |
| Cleft Palate and Cleft Lip |
| Gestational Diabetes Mellitus |
| Hyperbilirubinemia (Jaundice) |
| Labor Stages, Induced, Augmented, Dysfunctional, Precipitous Labor |
| Neonatal Sepsis |
| Perinatal Loss (Miscarriage, Stillbirth) |
| Placental Abruption |
| Placenta Previa |
| Postpartum Hemorrhage |
| Postpartum Thrombophlebitis |
| Prenatal Hemorrhage |
| Preeclampsia and Gestational Hypertension |
| Prenatal Infection |
| Preterm Labor |
| Puerperal & Postpartum Infections |
| Substance (Alcohol and Drug) Abuse in Pregnancy |
Mental Health and Psychiatric Care Plans
| Mental Health and Psychiatric Care Plans |
|---|
| Alcohol Withdrawal |
| Anxiety & Fear |
| Anxiety and Panic Disorders |
| Bipolar Disorders |
| Body Image Disturbance & Self-Esteem |
| Impaired Thought Processes & Cognitive Impairment |
| Major Depression |
| Personality Disorders |
| Schizophrenia |
| Sexual Assault |
| Substance Dependence and Abuse |
| Suicide Behaviors |
Musculoskeletal Care Plans
| Musculoskeletal Care Plans |
|---|
| Amputation |
| Congenital Hip Dysplasia |
| Fracture UPDATED! |
| Impaired Physical Mobility & Immobility |
| Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis |
| Laminectomy (Disc Surgery) |
| Osteoarthritis |
| Osteogenic Sarcoma (Osteosarcoma) |
| Osteoporosis |
| Rheumatoid Arthritis |
| Scoliosis |
| Spinal Cord Injury |
| Total Joint (Knee, Hip) Replacement |
Neurological Care Plans
| Neurological Care Plans |
|---|
| Alzheimer’s Disease UPDATED! |
| Brain Tumor |
| Cerebral Palsy |
| Cerebrovascular Accident (Stroke) UPDATED! |
| Guillain-Barre Syndrome |
| Meningitis |
| Multiple Sclerosis |
| Parkinson’s Disease |
| Seizure Disorder |
| Spinal Cord Injury |
Ophthalmic Care Plans
| Ophthalmic Care Plans |
|---|
| Cataracts |
| Glaucoma |
| Macular Degeneration |
Pediatric Nursing Care Plans
| Pediatric Nursing Care Plans |
|---|
| Child Abuse |
| Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate |
| Dying Child |
| Febrile Seizure |
| Hospitalized Child |
| Hydrocephalus |
| Otitis Media |
| Spina Bifida |
| Tonsillitis and Adenoiditis |
Reproductive Care Plans
| Reproductive Care Plans |
|---|
| Cryptorchidism (Undescended Testes) |
| Hysterectomy |
| Hypospadias and Epispadias |
| Mastectomy |
| Menopause |
| Prostatectomy |
Respiratory Care Plans
| Respiratory Care Plans |
|---|
| Airway Clearance Therapy & Coughing |
| Apnea |
| Asthma UPDATED! |
| Aspiration Risk & Aspiration Pneumonia |
| Bronchiolitis UPDATED! |
| Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia (BPD) UPDATED! |
| Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) UPDATED! |
| Croup Syndrome |
| Cystic Fibrosis UPDATED! |
| Epiglottitis |
| Hemothorax and Pneumothorax UPDATED! |
| Ineffective Breathing Pattern (Dyspnea) |
| Impairment of Gas Exchange |
| Influenza (Flu) UPDATED! |
| Lung Cancer UPDATED! |
| Mechanical Ventilation |
| Near-Drowning |
| Pleural Effusion |
| Pneumonia |
| Pulmonary Embolism |
| Pulmonary Tuberculosis |
| Tracheostomy |
Urinary Care Plans
| Urinary Care Plans |
|---|
| Acute Glomerulonephritis |
| Acute Renal Failure |
| Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH) |
| Chronic Renal Failure |
| Hemodialysis |
| Nephrotic Syndrome |
| Peritoneal Dialysis |
| Urolithiasis (Renal Calculi) |
| Urinary Elimination (Urinary Incontinence & Urinary Retention) |
| Urinary Tract Infection |
| Vesicoureteral Reflux (VUR) |
| Wilms Tumor (Nephroblastoma) |
Recommended Resources
Recommended nursing diagnosis and nursing care plan books and resources.
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Ackley and Ladwig’s Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: An Evidence-Based Guide to Planning CareWe love this book because of its evidence-based approach to nursing interventions. This care plan handbook uses an easy, three-step system to guide you through client assessment, nursing diagnosis, and care planning. Includes step-by-step instructions showing how to implement care and evaluate outcomes, and help you build skills in diagnostic reasoning and critical thinking.
Nursing Care Plans – Nursing Diagnosis & Intervention (10th Edition)Includes over two hundred care plans that reflect the most recent evidence-based guidelines. New to this edition are ICNP diagnoses, care plans on LGBTQ health issues, and on electrolytes and acid-base balance.
Nurse’s Pocket Guide: Diagnoses, Prioritized Interventions, and Rationales Quick-reference tool includes all you need to identify the correct diagnoses for efficient patient care planning. The sixteenth edition includes the most recent nursing diagnoses and interventions and an alphabetized listing of nursing diagnoses covering more than 400 disorders.
Nursing Diagnosis Manual: Planning, Individualizing, and Documenting Client Care Identify interventions to plan, individualize, and document care for more than 800 diseases and disorders. Only in the Nursing Diagnosis Manual will you find for each diagnosis subjectively and objectively – sample clinical applications, prioritized action/interventions with rationales – a documentation section, and much more!
All-in-One Nursing Care Planning Resource – E-Book: Medical-Surgical, Pediatric, Maternity, and Psychiatric-Mental Health Includes over 100 care plans for medical-surgical, maternity/OB, pediatrics, and psychiatric and mental health. Interprofessional “patient problems” focus familiarizes you with how to speak to patients.
