Fundamentals of Assessment and Care Planning for Nurses

All nursing students are required to meet the seven standards produced by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) before being entered onto the professional register. Fundamentals of Assessment and Care Planning for Nurses addresses two of these important standards, helping readers become proficient in assessing patient needs, and planning, providing and evaluating care.

This timely publication adopts a practical approach with NMC proficiencies at its core, providing guidance and insight into the application of key skills and demonstrating competency in real-life settings.

• Centres around a fictitious nuclear family to provide a practical basis to the various chapters and assessment
• Offers mnemonics to enable comprehensive history taking and systematic physical assessment
• Helps readers address socio-cultural considerations they may face in practice
• Includes links to literature that provides further support and additional information

Fundamentals of Assessment and Care Planning for Nurses is an important resource for pre-registration nursing students and Nursing Associates who are required to demonstrate proficiency in the new NMC standards, and other registered practitioners seeking to update their knowledge.

Ian Peate, OBE FRCN is Visiting Professor of Nursing, Visiting Senior Clinical Fellow, Editor-in-Chief of the British Journal of Nursing, and Head of School, School of Health Studies, Gibraltar.

Preface vii

Acknowledgements ix

Meet the family x

Chapter 1 The nature of nursing 1

Chapter 2 The provision of care 17

Chapter 3 Critical thinking and clinical decision making 31

Chapter 4 The nursing process 45

Chapter 5 Care plans 60

Chapter 6 Models of nursing 73

Chapter 7 The skills of assessment and planning care 87

Chapter 8 Assessment tools 104

Chapter 9 Assessing the musculoskeletal system 119

Chapter 10 Assessing the circulatory system 141

Chapter 11 Assessing the cardiac system 166

Chapter 12 Assessing the gastrointestinal system 189

Chapter 13 Assessing the renal system 218

Chapter 14 Assessing the respiratory system 238

Chapter 15 Assessing the male reproductive system 263

Chapter 16 Assessing the female reproductive system 283

Chapter 17 Assessing the nervous system 302

Chapter 18 Assessing the endocrine system 327

Chapter 19 Assessing the immune system 344

Chapter 20 Assessing the skin 365

Index 383

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