Rosdahl and Kowalski (2008) explain, planning is the development of goals to prevent, reduce or eliminate actual/potential problems and to identify nursing interventions to assist patients in meeting these goals. They express, by setting priorities, identifying expected outcomes, and selecting interventions, a plan of nursing care can be derived. Potter and Perry (2004) express the usefulness of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, in selecting priorities meaning basic physiological requirements take priority over self-esteem requirements. Roper et al (2001) have explained that planning involves determining the strategies or course of actions to be taken before the implementation of nursing care. It aids with multi-disciplinary team (MDT) work and communication between health professionals (Roper et al 2008). Setting goals and prescribing care are interconnected aspects of planning and will therefore be considered concurrently. It is important that the patient and their family are involved, wherever possible in the planning and goal setting process. Quan (2009) explains health professionals must realize, the goals set within a plan of care are not nursing goals, they are patient goals, which is why involving the patient in the planning process is vital. The goals set should have the following characteristics; they should be specific to the patient, measurable, achievable, realistic and time orientated (SMART) …show more content…
It involves the execution of the care plan devised during the planning phase of the nursing process. In the implementation phase the nurse and members of the MDT put the care plan into action (Daniels 2004). Frisch and Kelly (2002), explain, nursing is a dynamic practice and all nurses must continually include new assessment information into the implementation of the care plan. Therefore nurses must use a wide range of evidence based knowledge, careful planning, critical thinking, analysis and judgement (Daniels 2004). Roper et al (2001) stress the importance of evidence based knowledge in nursing practice, to enable a practitioner to give rationale explanations regarding the decisions made, allowing them to be a safe and ethical practitioner and provide patients with the best possible care. When implementing care, both experiential knowledge and external evidence should be used together (Sackett, Rosenberg, Gray, Richardson 1996). Hall (2005) refers to experiential knowledge and theoretical evidence/knowledge, as ‘fundamental knowledge types’. Claiming it is in the patient’s best interests to utilise both types of knowledge alongside one another to promote effective care. However, criticisms have been made about the gap between these knowledge bases, claiming some nurses are not able to apply theoretical knowledge with experiential knowledge, leaving a theory-practice gap (Hall, 2005). If practical cares are not supported with