The nursing process is a critical thinking model based on a systematic approach to patient-centered care. Nurses use the nursing process to perform clinical reasoning and make clinical judgments when providing patient care. The nursing process is based on the Standards of Professional Nursing Practice established by the American Nurses Association (ANA). These standards are authoritative statements of the actions and behaviors that all registered nurses, regardless of role, population, specialty, and setting, are expected to perform competently. The mnemonic ADOPIE is an easy way to remember the ANA Standards and the nursing process. Each letter refers to the six components of the nursing process: Assessment, Diagnosis, Outcomes Identification, Planning, Implementation, and Evaluation.
The nursing process is a continuous, cyclic process that is constantly adapting to the patient’s current health status.
Content quoted from Nursing Fundamentals by Open Resources for Nursing (Open RN), CC-BY.
Image: “The Nursing Process” by Kim Ernstmeyer at Chippewa Valley Technical College. CC BY 4.0
