Nursing Process and Care Planning

What this unit covers

The resources follow the steps of the nursing process: assessing, diagnosing, outcome identification and planning, implementing, and evaluating. Documenting and reporting are covered too. Most of the material is organised by textbook chapter, so it is easy to match to a reading list.

Where to start

Begin with the flashcard deck on blended competencies, clinical reasoning and person-centred care vocabulary. It sets out terms such as critical thinking indicators, clinical judgement and QSEN. Then move through the vocabulary decks for assessing, diagnosing and outcome identification and planning, so the language is familiar before you test yourself.

• Read the notes on critical thinking and the nursing process.
• Look at the slide sets The Nursing Process and Nursing Diagnosis.
• Use the flowchart on implementing nursing care to see the order of actions.

Quizzes and maps together

The quizzes give a scenario and ask which phase of the nursing process the nurse is in. One asks about a male adolescent admitted after a drug overdose. Another asks about a patient with an ulcer that is not healing. Answers come with rationales, so read them to see why an option fits a phase.

The mind maps are mostly worked care plans built around a single patient or condition, such as Parkinson's Disease, Small Bowel Obstruction, Hypertension and Social Isolation. Others cover a hip fracture, a stroke or COPD. Open a map, then take a quiz on the matching phase. Next, try to rebuild the care plan from memory and compare it with the map.

Where it sits

This unit belongs to the Fundamentals of Nursing Care strand in Nursing. It suits university students working on placements and written care plans, and teachers who want examples to share with a class.

Next step

Choose one phase, work through its quiz, and then sketch a care plan of your own as a mind map.