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Abstract
Why you should read this article:
Care planning for patients is an important element of the nurse’s role, yet some nursing students may miss its relevance to their practice. However, they can learn many skills by care planning thoroughly in partnership with patients. They can also expand their knowledge of the wider aspects of holistic care, including the importance of empowering and educating patients.
This article discusses how to structure care planning systematically and assists practice supervisors to guide nursing students working in the community in their learning, showing how to relate certain aspects of care to specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely (SMART) goals. The article also describes a structure for developing interventions for a care plan – professional values, assessment, treatment and education (PATE) – which nursing students can use to incorporate a chronological order into care that also encompasses health promotion.