Nursing interventions are actions taken by nurses to improve patient health and comfort. They involve assessment, planning, implementation, and evaluation, and can include counseling, referrals, administering medications, and performing minor medical procedures. Nurses work alone or as part of patient care teams and are trained to evaluate patients, work with other medical personnel, and interact with patients and their families.
Nursing interventions are actions taken by a nurse to further the course of a patient’s treatment. In several countries, professional nursing organizations have created complex classification systems for such interventions, creating a standardized system that can be used by all nurses to provide a high level of care. The goal is to improve patient health and comfort.
There are four stages to nursing interventions. The first is assessment, where the nurse determines what the problem is, such as in the case of someone with a nail in their foot. Following the assessment, the nurse formulates an appropriate plan of action, which in the case of this imaginary patient would involve nail removal, wound irrigation, prophylactic antibiotics, and a tetanus shot. After planning, the nurse implements the treatment that you have formulated, then evaluates the patient to determine the outcome of the interventions and to decide if further interventions are needed.
Nurses can work alone or as part of patient care teams, and interventions work the same way either way. When a patient is admitted to the hospital, for example, they may receive medical orders from a doctor, such as a standing order for medications, but nurses also formulate a plan, which may include things like regularly checking the patient’s vitals, making of fluids and educate the patient and his family about the situation.
Nursing interventions can include things like counseling, referrals, patient advocacy, administering medications, and performing minor medical procedures. As in all medical care, the primary concern is keeping the patient stable enough to receive treatment, while the secondary concern is assessing all of the patient’s needs and deciding on a course of action. When a patient comes in with an obstructed airway and a broken leg, for example, the airway must be protected before the broken leg can be treated. Nurses are also not afraid to call on the support of other medical professionals when they need it.
In nursing schools, students are usually taken through a series of theoretical cases in which they are presented with a hypothetical assessment and asked to develop a nursing plan that includes specific interventions. Nursing students also discuss routine interventions that are used on a regular basis and learn how to evaluate patients, how to work with other medical personnel to obtain a treatment plan, and how to interact with patients and their families to ensure everyone stays informed, comfortable and happy.
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