Synopsis

Nursing Care Plans, 6th Edition is the most comprehensive nursing care planning book on the market, with 183 care plans covering the most common nursing diagnoses and clinical problems in medical-surgical nursing. It reflects the most current clinical practice and professional standards in nursing and presents the content in an easy-to-use, reader-friendly format. The book functions as two books in one, with one section including a collection of nursing diagnosis care plans and the other providing a library of disease/disorder care plans that serve as models of care planning for the most common medical diagnoses, medical procedures, and psychosocial conditions seen in nursing practice.

• Includes the most extensive array of care plans found in any nursing care planning book, with 62 nursing diagnosis care plans and 121 disease/disorder/procedure care plans, for a total of 183.
• The nursing diagnosis care plan format includes a NANDA definition, a brief explanation of the diagnosis, related NOC outcomes and NIC interventions, related factors, defining characteristics, expected outcomes, ongoing assessment, and therapeutic interventions.
• The disorders care plan format includes synonyms for the disorder (for ease in cross referencing), a clear and succinct definition of the disorder, related factors, defining characteristics, expected outcomes, NIC interventions and NOC outcomes, ongoing assessment, and therapeutic interventions for each relevant nursing diagnosis.
• Eye-catching icons distinguish collaborative from independent interventions.
• Covers adult lifespan issues and issues related to various healthcare settings to equip nurses for a broad range of practice settings, from hospital to home.
• Provides an alphabetical list of NANDA diagnoses inside the front cover.

• Includes new disease/disorder care plans for SARS, Lyme disease, West Nile virus, and obstructive sleep apnea.
• Includes new nursing diagnosis care plans for risk for falls, latex allergy response, nausea, and impaired memory.
• A revised care plan format makes this user-friendly reference even easier to use.
• Updated and expanded rationales throughout reflect the latest clinical evidence and clinical practice guidelines.
• Incorporates the 2005-2006 NANDA nursing diagnoses throughout.
• NIC and NOC classifications reflect the latest editions of Nursing Interventions Classification and Nursing Outcomes Classification.
• Sample care plan clips in Chapter 1 help orient the user to the rest of the book.
• The expanded index includes entries for all nursing diagnoses, medical diagnoses, and synonyms for the medical diagnoses.
• An expanded Evolve website now features 18 Bonus Care Plans.
• The revised Online Care Plan Constructor includes the four new nursing diagnosis care plans and offers enhanced functionality, allowing users to save created care plans and export them to their word processing program.

Reviewer: Carole Ann Kenner, PhD, MSN, BSN(Northeastern University Bouve College of Health Sciences)
Description: The text presents a wonderful guide to developing care plans that allow for individual adaptation. The previous edition (4th) was published in 1998.
Purpose: "The book is designed to provide a guide for nurses that need to adapt plans of care to diverse medical-surgical patients. The primary focus is the patient in the acute care setting that includes discharge planning and transition to home/community. Yes these are worthy objectives and yes the author met these."
Audience: "The target audience is any nurse-student or practicing that needs to develop or implement a plan of care. This audience is according to the author and to me. The author team are very credible."
Features: "The back cover of the book actually gives a very good synopsis of the features of the book. It highlights the key elements that make this book easier to use than most others on the market. Two new chapters were added with this edition-Mens Health and Women's Helth Care Plans. These focus on genitorinary problems-physiologic and related to cancer. The NANDA diagnoses have been updated and are related to NIC and NOC. The latter relates to evidence based outcomes. Each plan has boxes that draw the reader's attention to elements of the nursing process and the standardized language. One major improvement in this edition is the online careplan construction component. The format is much easier to use and adapt to individual patient needs than in the past. The lack of plans outside the acute care setting remains a shortcoming of this text. With the increasing population of patients in the home and community this content is needed as is ties to e-health."
Assessment: This book, despite its shortcomings, stands far above the competing books. The closest competitors are: Nursing Care Plans: Guidelines for Individualizing Patient Care, 6th edition, Doenges, et al. (F.A. Davis, 2002); Nursing Diagnosis Handbook: A Guide to Planning Care, 5th edition, Ackley, et al. (Mosby, 2002); and Nursing Care Plans and Documentation: Nursing Diagnoses and Collaborative Problems, 3rd edition, by Carpenito (Lippincott, Williams, & Wilkins, 1999). This book is user-friendly, up-to-date, and attractive in the way it calls the reader's attention to the important elements. The online care plan constructor is a wonderful element for students and especially instructors who want to illustrate how plans can be adapted to unique needs. This edition of the book is much improved from the previous editions.

Biography

Gulanick, Meg, RNC, PhD (Loyola Univ Chicago); Klopp, Audrey, RN, CS, ET, NHA, PhD (Nursing Plymouth Place, Inc); Galanes, Susan, RN, CCRN, MS (Suburban Lung Associates); Gradishar, Deidra, RNC, BS (Illinois Masonic Medical Center); Puzas, Michele Knoll, RNC, MHPE (Michael Reese Hospital and Medical Center)