NURS 360 Health & Illness III

Concept Map Care Plan Instructions

A concept map careplan will be completed on each client and is due two days post-clinical via
dropbox. The concept map will enable you to synthesize relevant data, enhance critical thinking
skills and clinical reasoning because priorities and relationships in the clients health status can
be clearly and succinctly visualized.
The concept map will be graded based on the following criteria:
1.

2.
3.
4.

The concept map includes all of the following content:

a. The chief medical diagnosis (this is the actual, not just the admitting diagnosis, as
these are often different) is listed.
b. All relevant priority assessments related to the chief medical diagnosis are listed
c. All ACTUAL nursing diagnosis are listed
d. All pertinent assessment data, treatments, medications, and medical history
related to each of the nursing diagnosis are listed in the corresponding nursing
diagnosis box
e. Interrelatedness of the patient problems is made clear with different colored lines.
All relevant relationships are reflected
Presentation is well-organized and creative
Research is provided to support work
Accurate grammar, punctuation, and spelling

Concept Map Skeleton (Step 1)

Once you have collected the client data or you have received your assigned case study you
will develop a skeleton diagram of all the clients health problems. The clients major medical
diagnosis is written in the middle and then all associated nursing diagnoses are added to the flow
chart. The nursing diagnoses written on the concept map are the actual problems, not potential
problems. An example of the concept map care plan skeleton can be found below.

Concept Map with Data to Support Diagnosis (Step 2)

After you have built the concept map skeleton, gather, analyze and categorize client data. Identify and group priority
assessments related to the reason for admission, list these in the chief medical diagnosis box. Then identify and group clinical
assessment data, treatments, medications, and medical history related to each of the nursing diagnoses and add them to the
corresponding boxes. An example of the concept map with data to support diagnosis can be found below.

Concept Map-Relationship between Diagnoses (Step 3)

This is your final step in the concept map component of the care plan. In this step you will utilize lines to indicate
relationships between problems. Use a solid black line in the skeleton care plan, and then use dotted lines to indicate relationship
between the problems. You may use different color lines to differentiate the relationships.

This is the final step of the concept map, there are three additional steps required to complete your care plan which include
nursing outcomes and interventions, evaluation and discharge plan/patient teaching.

Nursing Outcomes and Interventions

In this step of the nursing care plan assignment you will create a two-column table. In the first column, list the desired
outcomes for each of the patient problems (nursing diagnoses) identified in your concept map. In the second column list all the
nursing interventions that will be necessary to attain the desired outcomes.
For example:

1.

Desired Outcomes
Altered Nutrition/Fluid & Electrolyte Imbalance:
The patient will gain 2lbs and have intact mucus
membranes in 7 days.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Interventions
Altered Nutrition/Fluid & Electrolyte Imbalance:
Daily weight
Assess new lab values (albumin, protein, electrolyte
panel, 24h urine, nitrogen balance, glucose,
chemistries, H&H)
Administer TPN as ordered
Strict I&O
Administer Nystatin swish & swallow as ordered
Mouth care

Evaluation
This step will be in narrative format and you should discuss how you will measure each of the desired outcomes and whether
the desired outcome was met, partially met, or not met.
Discharge Plan/Patient Teaching
This step will also be in narrative format and you will formulate a discharge plan for your patient that will include the
following:
1. Placement/type of dwelling: ex. Home, long-term care facility, rehabilitation, home health, etc.
2. Support systems: discuss what type of support system is in place. Examples: family, friends, church members, etc.
3. Assistance needed with ADLs: Discuss what activities require assistance. How much assistance? Who will help?
4. Equipment needs: Include items such as walkers, canes, supplies for wound care, etc.
5. Patient teaching: a narrative patient teaching plan is discussed. Include the following items:
How the patient prefers to learn

Barriers to learning (ex. cognitive, physical, emotional)

Topics to be addressed (ex. Disease process, diet, medications, safety issues, health promotion behaviors,
when to seek medical attention, medical follow up)