Nursing assessment is the first stage of the nursing process. State four reasons why a nursing history is performed on admission? Explain why it is important to involve your client and/or their family whilst conducting nursing assessments? What is meant by holistic care? What is a holistic assessment?

The nursing process functions as a systematic guide to client-centered care with 5 sequential steps. These are assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

Assessment

Assessment is the first step and involves critical thinking skills and data collection; subjective and objective. Subjective data involves verbal statements from the patient or caregiver. Objective data is measurable, tangible data such as vital signs, intake and output, and height and weight.

Data may come from the patient directly or from primary caregivers who may or may not be direct relation family members. Friends can play a role in data collection. Electronic health records may populate data in and assist in assessment.

Critical thinking skills are essential to assessment, thus the need for concept-based curriculum changes.