Nursing Assessment is the process of collecting, validating, and clustering data. It is the first and most important step in the nursing process. The assessment phase sets the tone for the rest of the process, and the rest of the process flows from it.  If your assessment is off the mark, then the rest of the process will be too. Assessment identifies your patient’s strengths and limitations and is performed not just once, but continuously throughout the nursing process. After performing your initial assessment, you establish your baseline, identify nursing diagnosis, and develop a Nursing Care Plans. Then, as you implement your plan, you also assess your patient’s response. Finally, you assess the effectiveness of your plan of care for your patient.

The purpose of assessment is to collect data of patient’s health status, to identify deviations from normal, to discover the patient’s strengths and coping resources, to point actual problems, and factors that place the patient at risk for health problems

Related posts:

1. Nursing Assessment
2. Nursing Process