Nurse Life Care Planning.

Today, nurses are better prepared to assume opportunities outside of the traditional role of the hospital nurse. Nurses are looking for avenues to use their experience and education for better hours and increased pay. Nurses are more prepared to take on leadership roles of managing resources for their patients or clients and to promote better health care in multiple care settings. Nurse Life Care Planning is an expanded role in nursing which combines the education and experience of the registered nurse. Nurse Life Care Planning begins with the foundation of the nursing process and serves as the core of many of these expanding roles in today's nursing practice. Nurse Life Care Planning assists the nurse with many areas of current practice as it looks at care for the future. To understand the concept of Nurse Life Care Planning, nurses must look at the foundation of their nursing practice--what it means to be a nurse and the nursing process.

The American Nurses Association (ANA) defines nursing as the protection, promotion, optimization of health and abilities, prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through diagnosis and the treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individual, families, communities, and populations. If we break nursing into parts, we serve to protect, to promote, to optimize, and to prevent through the diagnosis and treatment of human responses.

We accomplish our roles as nurses and define the care that is given through the foundation of the nursing process and by the application of critical thinking skills. The nursing process begins with the assessment and is further defined through the formulation of the nursing diagnosis, the identification of outcomes, the planning, the implementation, and the evaluation. The nursing process and care plans are fundamental components to the practice of professional nursing. Care planning began early in our nursing education and those same care plans have been implemented throughout our professional career as nurses. In the basics of the education process, nurses learned the foundation of the nursing process and skills which were transferred to the care that was provided in everyday nursing practice.

Nurses continue with the same basics today in the various practice settings of acute care, clinics, home health, long term care and management roles following the nursing process. Whatever practice settings nurses choose, nurses assess, plan, and identify outcomes. Nurses serve as educators to patients or clients, a skill developed throughout our education and professional experience. Nurses automatically think into the future with discharge planning for safety issues, home care, and support systems that the patient or client will be able to use in the home setting to enhance independence and wellness.

Applying the same principles that we learned in the college of nursing, nurses use the nursing process in their expanding practice roles. Several areas have offered nurses alternatives to the hospital or clinic setting. Such areas of practice include Case Management, Legal Nurse Consulting and Nurse Life Care Planning. Case Management offers nurses the opportunity to work with patients who have sustained spinal cord injures, burns and amputations, and traumatic brain injuries. Legal Nurse Consultants enter the litigation arena where they evaluate, analyze, and render informed opinions on the delivery of health care and its outcomes. The litigation arena provides business opportunities for nurses with the integration of nursing education and expertise with the law. Care Planning has expanded into the litigation process where attorneys need to fully understand the damages or injuries in their case and determine the future medical costs. Nurse Life Care Planning in the litigation arena integrates the traditional nursing role with litigation and utilizes experience such as case management. The practice of nursing serves as the foundation of Nurse Life Care Planning. Nurse Life Care Planners are Registered Nurses with the background and experience in the continuum of care from the acute care setting through community care such as Case Management, Rehabilitation, Home Health or Discharge Planning.

The Nurse Life Care Planner follows the nursing process and begins with the assessment of an individual with a catastrophic injury. The nurse uses a holistic approach to assess the injured person, his or her support systems, environment, and medical and equipment needs related to his or her injury. The nursing diagnosis serves to identify expected outcomes and interventions. The Registered Nurse develops a plan that prescribes strategies and alternatives to attain expected outcomes. The Nurse Life Care Plan is prepared in collaboration with other health care team members based on the individual needs of the injured person. The Case Manager implements and evaluates the Nurse Life Care Plan to complete the nursing process. The Nurse Life Care Planner practices in multiple areas including the insurance industry, the law with plaintiff and defense council, third party administrators, and structured settlement companies. Nurse Life Care Planners also work as self-employed consultants in private practice. The Nurse Life Care Planner is often retained to provide consultation and education to legal professionals and others in litigation related to illness or injury.

In 1997, the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planning was founded to support nurses in their expanding profession of Nurse Life Care Planning. Nurse Life Care Planning is the core of other fields such as the New Senior Care Consultant and the Personal Nurse Advocate. These expanded roles have given nurses opportunities for better hours, independent practice, and a higher income.

Nurse Life Care Planning serves the basis for many emerging areas within the nursing practice. As Nurses begin to look opportunities in the field of nursing, one thing holds true, our core, the nursing process.

Kelly Lance is the founder of the American Association of Nurse Life Care Planners and the creator of the profession of Nurse Life Care Planning. She shares her passion of Nurse Life Care Planning with other Nurses in the courses she has developed. Her company, Kelynco, was founded in 1994 and serves a source for nursing education in Nurse Life Care Planning, Senior Care Consulting and Personal Nurse Advocacy. www. kelynco.com