Discussion of a Care Plan

I will draw upon my experience as a student nurse in a recent nursing placement and highlight the importance of a care plan. The patient that I will be assessing will be referred to as ‘Patient A’ due to the verbal confidentiality agreement formed when asking for their informed consent. They were admitted to a ward that specialised in trauma, elective plastic and reconstructive surgery. The grounds in which the patient was admitted was due to an extensive burn to most of the right lower leg, from a hot pan of water. The surgery consisted of skin grafts placed on the lower leg acquired from the left thigh.
Patient A was feeling the effects of post-operative pain, and so we devised a care plan that was based on assessment tools, to enable an accurate account of the pain, so that the correct care could be prearranged. Care plans are devised to cover aspects that may often be neglected; they provide a ‘road map’, enabling good care o be provided for the patient from all health care professionals involved. (Sox 2006) One of the assessment tools used was based on the framework constructed by Roper, Logan and Tierney which considered factors influencing physical, psychological, sociocultural and environmental activities of living.(Kozier et al 2008) For example one of the activities considered is sleeping; Patient A found it hard to sleep due to pain coming from the lower right leg. Another assessment tool was verbal communication between patient A and healthcare professionals explaining the exact problem. It has been stated that the best way to assess a patient is to talk to them (Higginson 1998) It is also important to keep on reassessing pain as it is rarely static.
Looking at Patient A I first began with an assessment process. I looked at the Roper, Logan and Tierney model (1990); this model was based on the theories of a psychologist named Maslow (1954) and his hierarchy of biological needs. The model by Roper et al is structured around 12 activities of daily...