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The nursing process Essay

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The standards of practice describe a competent level of nursing care as exhibited by the critical thinking model known as the nursing process. This practice includes the areas of assessment, diagnosis, outcome identification, planning, implementation, and evaluation. The nursing process includes significant actions taken by registered nurses (RN) and forms the foundation of the nurse’s decision-making (“American Nurses Association,” 2010). Assessment is the accurate collection of comprehensive data pertinent to the patient’s health or the situation (“American Nurses Association,” 2010). Assessment is the first step in the nursing process and the most important. Assessment is the accurate collection of the patient’s health date …show more content…

It is during the second phase that the nurse must establish a nursing diagnosis. Only diagnosis approved and listed through The North American Nursing Diagnosis Association (NANDA) may be used. Ineffective airway clearance, risk for impaired skin integrity, risk for infection and ineffective coping are just a few examples of NANDA approved diagnosis. A nursing diagnosis is a clinical judgment about actual or potential individual, family, or community experiences/responses to health problems/life processes. A nursing diagnosis provides the basis for selection of nursing interventions to achieve outcomes for which the nurse has accountability (Defining the Knowledge,” 2012). The third standard of practice is outcomes identification. During this phase, the registered nurse identifies expected outcomes for a plan individualized to the patient or the situation (“American Nurses Association,” 2010). During this step outcomes must be derived from the nursing diagnosis and must be measurable, realistic and attainable by the patient. The registered nurse involves the patient, family, heath care providers, and others in formulating expected outcomes when possible and appropriate. The registered nurse must also consider associated risks, benefits, costs, current scientific evidence, expected trajectory of the condition, and clinical expertise when formulating outcomes (“American Nurses Association,” 2010). Example of an

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