[The collaborative nursing care plan: integration of the clinical pathway with the traditional nursing care plan]

The nursing care plan is a commonly used teaching tool in nursing education. By developing individualized nursing care plans for specific clients, students practice use of nursing process and making clinical judgments and decisions. However, the system of managed care has impacted current clinical practice, and many health care agencies have shifted their emphasis from requiring the traditional columnar nursing care plans to use of clinical pathways and standards of care. As result of this trend, nursing educators are faced with the problem of preparing students to cope with today's reality in clinical practice. In response to this problem, this article reexamines the practical utility of the traditional nursing care plan in nursing education. The article also introduces a collaborative nursing care plan, the integration of the clinical pathway with the traditional nursing care plan, and its application in teaching.