4.1 Nursing Process Introduction
Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN)
Learning Objectives
- Use the nursing process to provide patient care
- Identify nursing diagnoses from evidence-based sources
- Describe the development of a care plan
- Prioritize patient care
- Describe documentation for each step of the nursing process
- Differentiate between the role of the PN and RN
Have you ever wondered how a nurse can receive a quick handoff report from another nurse and immediately begin providing care for a patient they previously knew nothing about? How do they know what to do? How do they prioritize and make a plan?
Nurses do this activity every shift. They know how to find pertinent information and use the nursing process as a critical thinking model to guide patient care. The nursing process becomes a road map for the actions and interventions that nurses implement to optimize their patients’ well-being and health. This chapter will explain how to use the nursing process as standards of professional nursing practice to provide safe, patient-centered care.