In this video I'm going to walk you through a simple, 4 step process to set yourself up
for success to acing your nursing school care plans.
And I actually have some free care plans to give to you, so be sure to stick around until
the end of this video and I'll let you know where you can snag those.
Hey friend, I'm Christina Rafano from nursingschoolofsuccess.com and today we are
talking all about nursing school care plans.
Yes, care plans.
I know you're probably shaking in your boots right now, but trust me, they are soooo easy
to do once you get them down.
So I'm going to walk you through 4 easy steps to set yourself up to ace them.
So before we dive into the steps we need to first understand exactly what a nursing care
plan is.
So a nursing care plan is basically the process a patient will go through to get better, it's
their plan of care, their care plan.
And to create these care plans, you, as the nursing student, need to first assess the
patient, understand their needs and their goals, and create a plan of action to help
them get there.
So that's what we're doing with these care plans.
Now care plans follow the nursing process, and if you need a refresher on the nursing
process, be sure to check out the video we have on that, I'll put a link down below in
the description.
So care plans follow the nursing process, when is assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation
and evaluation.
So the care plan goes like this: you need to assess you patient to find out their needs,
come up with an appropriate nursing diagnosis for them for where they are at currently,
set goals for where they want to be, do the interventions necessary to help get them there,
and then finally, you'll need to evaluate their progress.
So that is the overall concept of care plans, now let's walk through step by step exactly
how to make this happen.
So the first step is to plan out exactly what you need before you go to clinical.
You have to know what information you need to get from your patient before you go to
clinical, that way you don't forget anything, you don't forget to ask them any questions
or to assess something.
So have a plan, you need to know exactly what your professor is expecting from you and your
care plan, so you want to go through all of that before you go to clinical.
So make a list of all the information you need to get: things like their patient history,
how they ended up at the facility, what's been stressing them out lately, what support
system they have, what their normal day looks like, things like that.
Your clinical instructor will lay out requirements for you so make sure you know what those are
so you don't forget any of them.
Now step 2 is to actually gather all of that information.
You'll do your full head to toe assessment or a focused assessment, you'll ask all of
your questions, and you'll write it all down.
Now this is SUPER important, you MUST write all of the information down as you get it.
Because, let's be honest, you're brain is overflowing with all of this nursing school
information right?
So if you don't write these things down, you will forget it.
So make sure that you write everything down as you are doing your nursing assessment.
Now, if it's your first time doing an assessment, I really recommend that you take full pieces
of paper and write as much down word for word as you can.
Now, if you have a little more experience with assessments, and you're more comfortable
talking with patients, you can simplify and use a brain sheet or maybe just a half sheet
of paper.
If you're not familiar with what a brain sheet is, it's a handy dandy tool that nurses use
to keep track of everything they do.
It's just a sheet of paper with boxes to fill, and organized places to write notes in.
So you can use a brain sheet if you're comfortable with it.
Now step number 3, is to find a quite corner after your assessment to brain dump.
Yes, you need to take a few minutes, step back and literally write down everything you
can remember about that assessment that you didn't get to write down in the room.
Now this always happens, you go to write your care plan, and realize that you forgot something
about your patient or you're missing a key piece of information.
So really, save yourself the stress later, and just take a few moments to write down
everything you didn't have time to write in the room.
This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes, and you will thank yourself later.
Now step number 4, is to actually do it.
Actually write your care plan.
So sit down at home or the library or somewhere quite, look through your notes, and write
your care plan.
So look through the requirements again, and use your amazing notes that you took at clinical
to actually write out your patient profile and do the care plan.
And I have 3 bonus tips to help you do just that:
BONUS TIP number 1: Choose the most appropriate nursing diagnosis for your specific patient.
This is what your instructor is looking for, they need to know that you actually know what
you're doing, and to prove that, it starts with choosing the best nursing diagnosis for
your specific patient.
If you choose a nursing diagnosis that doesn't apply to your patient, well, that's just telling
your nursing instructor that you don't know what you're doing, and friend, I know it feels
that way sometimes, but you actually DO know what you're doing.
You know more than you think you do.
So use all that amazing knowledge of yours and choose an appropriate nursing diagnosis
for your specific patient.
If you need help choosing a great nursing diagnosis for your patient, be sure to check
out the video we have all about how to choose a great nursing diagnosis for your patient.
I'll put a link to that video in the description below.
And BONUS TIP number 2: Make the patient goals specific to your patient!
Don't write a patient goal that they have no interest in actually doing.
This is a big one, sometimes we forget that patient goals are not about us, they are about
the PATIENT.
So make sure your patient goals are something that they are actually interested in working
toward.
So, for example, if your patient smokes but they have no intention of quitting, don't
write a patient goal of "the patient will quit smoking by the time they discharge,"
that's not patient centric and it's not realistic for them.
So make sure you actually write goals that are for that patient.
And BONUS TIP number 3: the nursing interventions are all about YOU.
This is something I often see nursing students get hung up on, nursing interventions are
written as what the NURSE or NURSING STUDENT will do.
That's you.
So your nursing interventions should be written as, "The nurse will..."
So "the nurse will educate the patient on healthy food choices to lower blood sugar,"
or "the nurse will assess the patient's lung sounds every 4 hours," things like that that
are specific to your patient.
So nursing interventions are written as what the NURSE or NURSING STUDENT will do.
Now be sure to check out the other care plan videos we have for more tutorials on how to
write great nursing school care plans.
I'll put a link to all of those in the description below.
And, just like I promised, I've got some free care plans for you!
I'll put a link to that too in the description below so you can snag those right away.
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Thanks so much for watching, friend, now go become the nurse that God created ONLY YOU
to be.
I'll see you next time on the Nursing School Show.