A patient has not met goals on the care plan. The nurse assesses that the patient is in full agreement with the plan and has the motivation to carry it out. The diagnoses are supported by data, and the outcome statements are well written

Question

The nurse concludes that
a. delegated activities were not done correctly.
b. the interventions did not help meet the goal.
c. the patient is incapable of meeting the goal.
d. there was not enough time for goals to be met.

Answer 1

B
Each outcome toward attaining a goal should have accompanying interventions that are based on scientific rationale and that are aimed at helping the patient meet the goal. If appropriate outcomes are not met, then the nurse must look to the interventions to ascertain whether they were appropriate to meet the outcome(s) and the overall goal.
It is certainly possible that delegated activities were not done or were done incorrectly, but this probably would not apply to every activity on the care plan directed toward meeting a certain goal.
Accurate assessment and input from the patient should have prevented the nurse from establishing outcomes the patient could not meet.
Good care planning takes into account the patient's unique personal attributes and the characteristics of the health alteration to formulate outcomes with a reasonable time frame. Inadequate time would not be the most likely cause of the failure.