For nursing students & new grads
Nursing student care plans — built for the way you're graded.
Your instructor wants NANDA-I 2024-2026, three-part diagnostic statements, SMART goals, interventions with rationale, and a clean evaluation. We built 25 of them so you have a working template for every clinical, then a filled-in example to compare against.
Acute Pain · NANDA-I 00132
2. Administer multimodal analgesia per order → combines mechanisms, reduces opioid dose
3. Reposition q2h, splint incision w/ cough → reduces stimulus, supports incision
4. Non-pharm: ice, distraction, breathing → adjunct, reduces sympathetic response
What's in each plan
Built around the NANDA-I structure your rubric is built on.
Each $3.99 download gives you a blank PDF (to fill in for your patient) and a filled-in DOCX example (to learn from and reference).
Structure of every care plan
- NANDA-I diagnosis — official label, code, domain, and class from the 2024-2026 taxonomy
- Definition — the formal NANDA-I definition of the diagnosis
- Related to (etiology) — likely "related to" factors specific to this diagnosis
- As evidenced by — defining characteristics (subjective + objective)
- Three-part PES statement — the diagnosis written out properly
- SMART goals / outcomes — short-term + long-term, measurable, timed (NOC-aligned)
- Interventions with rationale — independent and collaborative, each tied to evidence
- Evaluation — how to know if the goal was met, partially met, or not met
The 25 plans we cover
Mapped to the most common diagnoses on student clinical paperwork:
- Acute Pain
- Chronic Pain
- Anxiety
- Disturbed Sleep Pattern
- Impaired Gas Exchange
- Ineffective Breathing Pattern
- Ineffective Airway Clearance
- Decreased Cardiac Output
- Risk for Falls
- Risk for Infection
- Impaired Skin Integrity
- Risk for Impaired Skin Integrity
- Impaired Physical Mobility
- Activity Intolerance
- Imbalanced Nutrition: Less than Body Req.
- Fluid Volume Excess
- Deficient Fluid Volume
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Impaired Urinary Elimination
- Hyperthermia
- Risk for Bleeding
- Risk for Unstable Blood Glucose
- Deficient Knowledge
- Ineffective Coping
Who it's for
Built for the long Sunday night of care plan paperwork.
"I don't yet know what 'related to' means."
Each plan starts with the NANDA-I definition and walks you through the diagnostic reasoning. Read three or four of these and the PES format clicks. The filled DOCX example shows you what your instructor is grading for.
"I'm doing two care plans per clinical week."
Stop building each one from scratch. Pull the matching diagnosis, customize the "related to" and "as evidenced by" for your patient, and you're done in 30 minutes instead of 3 hours. Interventions already have rationale.
"My students keep writing medical diagnoses."
Use the templates as a teaching tool. Students see the official NANDA-I label, the definition, and a worked example. They stop writing "patient has pneumonia" as a nursing diagnosis. School licensing available.
How to write a care plan
The structure your rubric is checking for.
The three-part NANDA-I statement (PES)
Every diagnosis written in this format:
- Problem — the NANDA-I label (e.g., Acute Pain)
- Etiology — "related to" the likely cause (e.g., related to surgical incision)
- Symptoms — "as evidenced by" subjective + objective findings (e.g., as evidenced by patient report of 8/10 pain, HR 104, guarding)
Risk diagnoses use a two-part statement (Problem + risk factors). The templates handle both formats.
SMART goals (NOC-aligned)
A goal that gets graded well is:
- Specific — what behavior or outcome?
- Measurable — a number, scale, or observable indicator
- Achievable — realistic for this patient
- Relevant — tied to the diagnosis
- Timed — by when?
Example: "Patient will report pain ≤ 4/10 within 60 minutes of PRN analgesic, by end of shift." Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timed — and it passes the rubric.
Why every intervention has a rationale
Most rubrics want a cited rationale for each intervention — a one-line "why are you doing this" tied to physiology or evidence. We pre-write the rationale for every intervention. You can keep it, swap it for your textbook's wording, or add a citation from Lewis, Potter & Perry, or Ackley/Ladwig.
The interventions are split into independent (what a nurse can do without an order — repositioning, teaching, monitoring) and collaborative (ordered, like meds or consults) so it's obvious which is which.
Get yours
One plan, the full set, or a brain sheet to match.
Browse all 25 care plans
Pick the diagnosis you need this week. Each is $3.99 and includes the blank PDF (to fill out for your patient) and the filled DOCX (to learn from).
Student brain sheet
Build a brain sheet for clinical: head-to-toe by system, full med list, lab values, room for NANDA-I diagnoses, and a teaching/discharge box.
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FAQ
Questions students ask before downloading.
Are these aligned with the current NANDA-I edition?
Yes — labels, codes, definitions, and defining characteristics are taken from NANDA International 2024-2026. If you're using a school textbook (like Ackley/Ladwig or Carpenito) that organizes by NANDA-I, our plans match.
Can I just turn one of these in?
No — and you don't want to. They're templates with sample interventions and rationale. Your instructor wants the diagnostic statement and goals individualized to your patient. The blank PDF is the worksheet; the filled DOCX is the example.
Will it pass a Turnitin / plagiarism check?
Templates are fine to use as a structure — what you write in the blanks is your work, and you should be paraphrasing the rationale in your own words. If your school requires citations, add them. We don't claim copyright on filled-in forms.
Are there enough interventions for a 5-intervention rubric?
Every plan has at least 6-8 interventions split into independent and collaborative, so you can pick 5 and discard the rest. Each has a rationale you can keep or rewrite.
Do you have a concept map version?
Not as a $3.99 download yet, but the custom builder lets you generate a concept-map-style worksheet that links assessment data → diagnosis → goals → interventions. Useful for visual-learner students.
Pairs well with
Tools nursing students use weekly.
Brain sheet builder
Build a student brain sheet with head-to-toe by system, full med list with classes, lab values, and a section for NANDA-I diagnoses for your paperwork.
Open builder →Drug card builder
Generate the drug cards your instructor wants — class, MOA, indication, side effects, nursing considerations. Required for most clinicals.
See drug cards →Handoff coach
Practice your SBAR before clinical post-conference. Paste your assessment, get back a structured handoff you can read aloud.
See handoff coach →