Nursing Intervention Categories
Nursing Intervention Categories
((
RN Speaks, “Nursing Interventions – The Core of Nursing Process,” Sept. 3, 2020, https://rnspeak.com/nursing-interventions/))
Nursing interventions are grouped into three categories according to the role of the healthcare professional involved in the patient’s care:
- Independent: A nurse can perform independent interventions on their own without assistance from other medical personnel; e.g., routine nursing tasks such as checking vital signs.
- Dependent: Some actions require instructions or input from a doctor, such as prescribing new medication. A nurse cannot initiate dependent interventions alone.
- Interdependent: Collaborative, or interdependent, interventions involve team members across disciplines. In certain cases, such as post-surgery, the patient’s recovery plan may require a prescription medication from a doctor, feeding assistance from a nurse, and treatment by a physical therapist or occupational therapist.
The Role of Assessments
The nursing assessment is the first step in the nursing care plan. During the assessment process, both physicians and nurses might ask questions and perform tests to gain information about a patient’s health and state of being. Professionals gather information from the patient’s:
- Vital signs
- Physical complaints or concerns
- External body conditions
- Medical history
- Current neurological functioning
After gathering all essential information during the assessment process, the nurse can use clinical judgment to formulate a nursing diagnosis list. Based on the assessment and diagnosis, the nurse can develop a care plan that outlines which interventions to include. ((NIH, National Library of Medicine, “Nursing Admission Assessment and Examination,” Sept. 2, 2020,
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493211/)) For example, the nursing diagnosis list may conclude the patient has a lack of appetite due to post-surgery pain. From this medical diagnosis, the nurse can set goals to resolve the patient’s pain through actions such as administering pain-relief medication and assessing the patient’s pain levels every few hours.
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