Developing Nursing Care Plan for Medical-Surgical Client: Evidence-Based Practice

Task and Purpose

This assignment will give students the opportunity to examine the research and find evidenced based nursing practice that is related to current trends and issues in medical-surgical nursing. Students will apply that research in developing a nursing care plan that will help promote health for a medicalsurgical client.

This assignment contains 3 parts completed in two components. First, you will write a scholarly paper on a procedure or trend/issue that impacts the health of a medical-surgical client. Second, you will then apply your scholarly paper findings/research to describe how the evidence best supports the change of a nursing procedure/trend/issue and the impact of the change on the health outcomes of the client. Third, this evidence will then be applied in a nursing care plan for a theoretical medical-surgical client. 

Note: This assignment has 2 components to it: Part A- Research Paper and Part B- Nursing Care Plan Part A:

1. Select a topic from the list below or you may select a topic that interests you, but speak with your instructor first if you are choosing your own topic.

a. Care and use of different types of chest tubes (e.g., wet/dry/Heimlich valves).

b. Increasing incidents of a super infection (ESBL, BRE, and MRSA) in the acute care setting and how these can be avoided. Choose one super infection to focus on.

c. Types and trends of post-operative infections in the acute care setting in Alberta.

d. Clean vs sterile techniques for tracheostomy care, bladder irrigation, or intermittent catheterization.

e. Preventing complications such as DVTs, respiratory complications, and skin breakdown in the immobilized acute care client (skeletal traction, external fixators, strict bed rest etc.). Choose one complication to focus on.

f. Issues of early discharge of the post-operative client from the acute care setting.

2. Research your topic of choice.

a. Provide a brief description of the procedure or trend/issue that impacts medical-surgical client.

b. Compare procedure or trend/issue with previous practice in medical-surgical nursing.

c. Describe the evidence-based practice that promotes the health of the medical-surgical client in the hospital or following their discharge home. Support with literature.

d. Identify health teaching information that promotes the health of the medical-surgical client specific to the chosen procedure/trend/issue. Support with literature.

1. Create a care plan (template below) based on the evidence-based research from part A.

a. Write 3 nursing diagnoses that relate to the topic that you have researched

i. One addressing a priority from the evidence presented (an actual problem from the research in part A)

ii. One addressing a potential complication from the evidence presented

iii. One addressing an educational need from the evidence presented

b. Write 1 goal for each nursing diagnosis. A goal is a broad statement of what the care plan should accomplish.

c. Write 1 expected outcome (SMART) for each goal. Expected outcomes provide the means to determine if the broader goal is met.

d. Write 3 nursing interventions for each outcome. Support each intervention with evidence from the literature

i. Include interventions applicable to the care of the client, and health promotion teaching that is applicable to the acute-care setting or the home setting after discharge

ii. Interventions should be specific and measurable

iii. Interventions must directly relate to achieving the goal and represent best practice in nursing from your research paper

e. Write 1 evaluative statement for each expected outcome including SMART criteria & evidence to support your statement. This is a hypothetical statement and indicates how you, as the nurse, would know if the stated overarching goal was achieved.