The Nursing Process (2024)

The common thread uniting different types of nurses who work in varied areas is the nursing process—the essential core of practice for the registered nurse to deliver holistic, patient-focused care.

Assessment
An RN uses a systematic, dynamic way to collect and analyze data about a client, the first step in delivering nursing care. Assessment includes not only physiological data, but also psychological, sociocultural, spiritual, economic, and life-style factors as well. For example, a nurse’s assessment of a hospitalized patient in pain includes not only the physical causes and manifestations of pain, but the patient’s response—an inability to get out of bed, refusal to eat, withdrawal from family members, anger directed at hospital staff, fear, or request for more pain mediation.

Diagnosis
The nursing diagnosis is the nurse’s clinical judgment about the client’s response to actual or potential health conditions or needs. The diagnosis reflects not only that the patient is in pain, but that the pain has caused other problems such as anxiety, poor nutrition, and conflict within the family, or has the potential to cause complications—for example, respiratory infection is a potential hazard to an immobilized patient. The diagnosis is the basis for the nurse’s care plan.

Outcomes / Planning
Based on the assessment and diagnosis, the nurse sets measurable and achievable short- and long-range goals for this patient that might include moving from bed to chair at least three times per day; maintaining adequate nutrition by eating smaller, more frequent meals; resolving conflict through counseling, or managing pain through adequate medication. Assessment data, diagnosis, and goals are written in the patient’s care plan so that nurses as well as other health professionals caring for the patient have access to it.

Implementation
Nursing care is implemented according to the care plan, so continuity of care for the patient during hospitalization and in preparation for discharge needs to be assured. Care is documented in the patient’s record.

Evaluation
Both the patient’s status and the effectiveness of the nursing care must be continuously evaluated, and the care plan modified as needed.

The Nursing Process (2024)

FAQs

How do you answer nursing process questions? ›

To answer nursing exam questions, a very common test-taking strategy is using the steps of the nursing process (ADPIE) to help you prioritize. ADPIE is an acronym for these steps, which are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation, and they follow this specific order.

What is the nursing process short answer? ›

The nursing process functions as a systematic guide to client-centered care with 5 sequential steps. These are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment is the first step and involves critical thinking skills and data collection; subjective and objective.

What is the nursing process quizlet? ›

The nursing process involves five steps: assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Critical thinking and using the nursing process helps nurses to collect essential data, clearly express the needs of patients, and communicate those needs to the health care team.

Is there a trick to answering NCLEX questions? ›

Look for Opposite Answers

If two of the answer choices have opposites, like increased heart rate or decreased heart rate, one of the two choices is usually the correct answer. Correctly answering NCLEX-style questions requires familiarity with all the types of questions you may see on the exam, says Ross.

What words are bolded on NCLEX? ›

Does the NCLEX bold key words in items? Yes, the NCLEX bolds key words such as best, most, essential, first, priority, immediately, highest, initial, next, refute, increased, decreased and support. Does NCSBN use generic and trade names on items with medications? The NCLEX uses consistent language for every examinee.

What is the nursing process for dummies? ›

  • The common thread uniting different types of nurses who work in varied areas is the nursing process—the essential core of practice for the registered nurse to deliver holistic, patient-focused care. Assessment. ...
  • Diagnosis. ...
  • Outcomes / Planning. ...
  • Implementation. ...
  • Evaluation.

What is the major purpose of the nursing process? ›

Its primary aim is to know the health status and the problems of clients which may be actual or potential. It is made up of a series of stages that are used to achieve the objective—the health improvement of the patient. The use of nursing process can stop at any stage as deemed necessary or can be repeated as needed.

Why is nursing process important? ›

The following are the purposes of the nursing process: To identify the client's health status and actual or potential health care problems or needs (through assessment). To establish plans to meet the identified needs. To deliver specific nursing interventions to meet those needs.

What is the most critical step in the nursing process? ›

The assessment phase is a critical component of the nursing process. Information gathered in this phase is used to establish a foundation upon which all patient care moving forward is established.

Is nursing a lot of memorization? ›

While you'll definitely need to recall a wide range of information at the drop of a hat, memorization will only take you so far. Nurses must be able to put facts into action, applying critical thinking in fast-paced environments.

What is an example of the nursing process? ›

Example: A new patient is admitted to the unit. The nurse obtains the patient's blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation. The nurse performs a head-to-toe assessment and gauges the patient's pain level. The nurse documents this information.

What are the 5 basic nursing process? ›

The five steps of the nursing process
  • Assessment phase.
  • Diagnosis phase.
  • Planning phase.
  • Implementing phase.
  • Evaluation phase.
Jun 24, 2022

What is the nursing process PDF? ›

Nursing process ; is a systematic , patient – centered , goal – oriented method of caring to provide a frame work for nursing practice . Objectives of N P (Nursing process ); The steps of the nursing process are not separated items , but rather are parts of. whole used to ; -Identify needs of the patient.

What is the six step of nursing process? ›

The mnemonic ADOPIE is an easy way to remember the ANA Standards and the nursing process. Each letter refers to the six components of the nursing process: Assessment, Diagnosis, Outcomes Identification, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.

What is a nursing process example? ›

Example: A new patient is admitted to the unit. The nurse obtains the patient's blood pressure, heart rate, respiration rate, temperature, and oxygen saturation. The nurse performs a head-to-toe assessment and gauges the patient's pain level. The nurse documents this information.

What is a process question example? ›

' Process questions require more thought and analysis and/or a sharing of opinion. Examples include, 'What skills can you bring to this organisation that the other applicants cannot? ' or 'What are the advantages and disadvantages of asking leading questions to children? '

What is the nursing process and problem solving? ›

The nursing process is a systematic problem-solving approach used to identify, prevent and treat actual or potential health problems and promote wellness. It has five steps; Assessment, Diagnosis, planning, implementation and evaluation [5].

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Reed Wilderman

Last Updated:

Views: 5934

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (52 voted)

Reviews: 83% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Reed Wilderman

Birthday: 1992-06-14

Address: 998 Estell Village, Lake Oscarberg, SD 48713-6877

Phone: +21813267449721

Job: Technology Engineer

Hobby: Swimming, Do it yourself, Beekeeping, Lapidary, Cosplaying, Hiking, Graffiti

Introduction: My name is Reed Wilderman, I am a faithful, bright, lucky, adventurous, lively, rich, vast person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.