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Gastrointestinal Care Plans

Nursing care plans then Gastrointestinal

Gastrointestinal Care Plans

Bleeding, obstruction, and liver failure. Watch volume status and mental status together rather than separately.

14 plans in this system

Volume and mental status move together here more than students expect. Bleeding, obstruction, and liver failure all present with findings that look separate and are not, so these plans keep the two assessments side by side.

CP-020Members only

Upper Gastrointestinal Bleeding

These items test recognition of concealed volume loss and the priority between assessment and intervention.

CP-021Members only

Cirrhosis with Hepatic Encephalopathy

These items test the nurse who notices a mental status change and knows what lactulose is titrated to.

CP-022Members only

Small Bowel Obstruction

These items turn on recognizing strangulation and on nasogastric tube management.

CP-077Members only

Acute Pancreatitis

Items make you choose between fluid and analgesia, and fluid wins in the first day.

CP-078Members only

Cholecystitis and Cholecystectomy

The stem hands you shoulder pain after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy and offers both ambulation and notify the surgeon.

CP-079Members only

Appendicitis and Peritonitis

Almost every appendicitis item is built on the sudden relief of pain, and the distractors are all reasonable if you read relief as improvement.

CP-080Members only

Peptic Ulcer Disease

Expect an item that gives the timing of the pain and asks which ulcer it is, and one that gives melena in a patient who feels well and asks what to do first.

CP-081Members only

Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease and Hiatal Hernia

Reflux items reward the mechanical answer over the pharmacologic one.

CP-082Members only

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

The item usually gives a patient with colitis whose diarrhea has improved, and the correct reading is that the abdomen is distending and this is deterioration.

CP-083Members only

Diverticulitis

The reliable item gives you a patient in one phase and offers the diet for the other.

CP-084Members only

Colorectal Cancer and Colostomy Care

Stoma color is the most reliable single item in this plan, and the correct action for dusky or black is always report rather than reposition or reapply.

CP-085Members only

Acute Gastroenteritis and Diarrhea

Items pick an infant or an older adult on purpose, because compensation hides depletion until it is severe.

CP-086Members only

Bariatric Surgery Recovery

The leak item gives a heart rate of about 120 with no fever and offers reassurance and analgesia alongside notify the surgeon.

CP-087Members only

Enteral Nutrition and Tube Feeding

Expect a positioning item and a verification item in almost any tube feeding set, and the auscultation option is always wrong.

Opening a plan

Every title here is a real plan. The full body of each one, including the interventions and rationales, is part of a NurseStudy Prep membership. Log in to open them, or see what a membership includes.

Educational use. These care plans are study aids. They do not replace your course instruction, your clinical judgment, or the guidance of the provider and the facility caring for the patient.

Care plan format. Diagnosis wording, reference ranges, and documentation requirements vary by school and by facility. Follow the format your own program requires and the standards of the institution where you practice.

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