ABSTRACT
This chapter takes nursing students through the planning stage, step by step, from planning goals through to prescribing care in order to meet their goals. Orem was clear that a holistic approach should be taken and that the total situation of the patient, the conditions and the circumstances of their life should be considered when planning care. Planning involves the 'making of the care plan'; the nurse identifies a goal and prescribes the care that will meet the identified deficits, taking care to keep the patient at the centre of the process. Orem's philosophy expects nursing students to put the person at the centre of the care-planning process; one way of achieving this is by using the patient's own words wherever possible in the written care plan. The planning stage of ASPIRE gives nursing students and thier patient the opportunity to set out exactly where they want to get to and how to get there.
