Key Nursing Skills doc

[...]... to make the most of his remaining time Whatever nursing model is chosen in your clinical area, it is intended to enhance nursing care delivery by being explicit about the nature and purpose of that care, and to provide a structure for recording and documenting observations and actions, thus promoting continuity of care (Iyer and Camp 1999) 5 Key Nursing Skills When skilled practitioners are observed... information nursing diagnosis – identification of potential or actual health problems planning – plan of care interventions to resolve or address identified problems implementation – delivery of nursing interventions evaluation – appraisal of effectiveness of nursing interventions and degree of progress towards resolving the problem While the nursing process provides a framework in which to deliver nursing. .. will ensure that a patient receives all the nursing care that is required, and will provide a baseline from which progress can be measured To ensure that nursing care is planned and delivered effectively a structured approach called the nursing process’ is used The nursing process’ is a planned, problem-solving approach to meeting a patient’s health care and nursing needs (Lippincott 2000) It is a systematic... potential problems that the patient is experiencing This can be called making a nursing diagnosis (Lippincott 2000) Nursing goals to alleviate or prevent these problems can then be determined and problems prioritized so that the patient’s immediate nursing care needs are met These goals are used to plan the direction and type of nursing interventions required They should be patient-focused, and SMART: Specific... time for medication and nursing measures to take effect This goal statement fulfils the SMART requirements, and would be followed by specific nursing interventions that would contribute to achieving the goal (see Chapter 8) There are examples of problems and goals throughout this book, together with nursing interventions to meet the goals 4 Beginning the assessment process When nursing interventions... that area in more detail, or refer the patient to an expert such as a member of the multi-disciplinary team 15 Key Nursing Skills patient is TIP! If a if you can referred to an expert health care professional, ask attend that consultation as an observer so that you can extend your knowledge and skills Preparing for discharge Preparation for discharge has to be started once the initial assessment is complete... 17 Key Nursing Skills as emergencies Emergency admissions will not have this opportunity, and the patient may be very frightened if events have been very speedy The patient will need reassurance that his concerns will be anticipated and his needs met, and he should be given clear explanations of any procedures It is usual to expect to conduct a full assessment within 24 hours of admission, and to document... monitoring a patient’s condition They also enable evaluation of response to treatment and early detection of problems 19 Key Nursing Skills Observations give vital information about a patient’s condition and therefore you have a duty to: ● ● ● ● ● adhere to the UKCC guidelines concerning documentation (UKCC 1998) report any deviations from the norm or baseline to a senior member of staff and/or medical... ‘thready’, or strong and ‘bounding’ Intervention: assessment of peripheral pulse Equipment ● ● ● Watch with second hand or digital display Black pen Documentation sheets Procedure ● ● ● Prepare equipment Wash hands Explain procedure to Mr Ellis 21 Key Nursing Skills ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Ask Mr Ellis to sit or lie down Make sure he is as comfortable and relaxed as possible, allowing him to rest for a minimum... lower than normal values 23 Key Nursing Skills Intervention: taking and recording blood pressure Record Mr Ellis’s blood pressure every x minutes To assess blood pressure using a mercury sphygmomanometer, the British Hypertension Society (Beevers et al 2001) recommends the following procedure Equipment ● ● ● Stethoscope Sphygmomanometer with appropriately sized cuff Pen and documentation sheets Procedure .