In their book, the staff of Entrepreneur Media, Inc. Offer an in-depth understanding of what’s essential to any business plan, what’s appropriate for your venture, and what it takes to ensure success. In this edited excerpt, guest contributor Kaye Vivian, an expert in writing business plans, offers advice on how you can improve your business plan content and presentation.When it comes to content, these 10 tips will help:1. Know your competition. Be prepared to name them and tell what makes you different from (and better than) each of them. But do not disparage your competition.2. Know your audience.
You’ll probably want several versions of your business plan—one for bankers or venture capitalists, one for individual investors, one for companies that may want to do a joint venture with you rather than fund you, etc.3. Have proof to back up every claim you make. If you expect to be the leader in your field in six months, you have to say why you think so. If you say your product will take the market by storm, you have to support this statement with facts.
If you say your management team is fully qualified to make the business a success, be sure staff resumes demonstrate the experience needed.4. Be conservative in all financial estimates and projections. If you feel certain you'll capture 50 percent of the market in the first year, you can say why you think so and hint at what those numbers may be. But make your financial projections more conservative—for example, a 10 percent market share is much more credible.5. Be realistic with time and resources available.
If you're working with a big company now, you may think things will happen faster than they will once you have to buy the supplies, write the checks and answer the phones yourself. Being overly optimistic with time and resources is a common error entrepreneurs make. Being realistic is important because it lends credibility to your presentation.
Always assume things will take 15 percent longer than you anticipated. Therefore, 20 weeks is now 23 weeks.6.
Think like a banker, and write what they would want to see.7. Have a strong management team. Make sure it has good credentials and expertise. Your team members don’t have to have worked in the field, but you do need to draw parallels between what they've done and the skills needed to make your venture succeed. Don’t have all the skills you need? Consider adding an advisory board of people skilled in your field, and include their resumes.8. Document why your idea will work.
Have others done something similar that was successful? Have you made a prototype?
Include all the variables that can have an impact on the result or outcome of your idea. Show why some of the variables don’t apply to your situation or explain how you intend to overcome them or make them better.9. Describe your facilities and location for performing the work.
If you'll need to expand, discuss when, where and why.10. Discuss payout options for the investors. Some investors want a hands-on role; some want to put associates on your board of directors; some don’t want to be involved in day-to-day activities. All investors want to know when they can get their money back and at what rate of return. Most want out within three to five years.
Provide a brief description of options for investors, or at least mention that you're ready to discuss options with any serious prospect.And here's what not to include in your business plan:1. Form over substance. If it looks good but doesn’t have a solid basis in fact and research, you might as well save your energy.2. Empty claims.
If you make a statement without supporting it, you may as well leave it out. You need to follow-up what you say in the next sentence with a statistic, fact or even a quote from a knowledgeable source that supports the claim.3. Rumors about the competition.
If you know for sure a competitor is going out of business, you can allude to it, but avoid listing its weaknesses or hearsay. Stick to facts.4. Superlatives and strong adjectives. Words like “major,” “incredible,” “amazing,” “outstanding,” “unbelievable,” “terrific,” “great,” “most,” “best” and “fabulous” don’t have a place in a business plan.
Avoid “unique” unless you can demonstrate with facts that the product or service is truly one of a kind. (Hint: Chances are, it isn’t.)5.
Long documents. If readers want more, they'll ask.6. Overestimating on your financial projections. Sure you want to look good, but resist optimism here. Use half of what you think is reasonable. It's better to underestimate than set expectations that aren’t fulfilled.7.
Overly optimistic time frames. Ask around or do research on the Internet. If it takes most companies six to 12 months to get up and running, that's what it'll take yours. If you think it'll take three months to develop your prototype, double it.
You'll face delays you don’t know about yet—ones you can’t control. Remember to be conservative in your time predictions.8. Serious investors want facts, not gimmicks. They may eat the chocolate rose that accompanies the business plan for your new florist shop, but it won’t make them any more interested in investing in the venture.9.
Amateurish financial projections. Spend some money and get an accountant to do these for you. They’ll help you think through the financial side of your venture, plus put the numbers into a standard business format that a businessperson expects.This article is included in, a new book containing insights from both sides of the board room to help you craft the perfect pitch. Buy it online from.
How to Write Nursing Care PlansNursing care plans are unavoidable in nursing school and nursing workplaces. That’s why you must learn how to write nursing care plans. Your professor needs detailed nursing care plans.
They want you to learn how to process information and think like a professional nurse. That explains why your teacher wants you to all of the time. You’ll write nursing care plans, whether the class is community care or mental health. Learning how to write nursing care plans is critically important for anyone who wants to become a nurse. What are Nursing Care Plans and Why Do They Matter?Why learn how to write nursing care plans, evidence based practice papers among other health care paper plans?
Nursing care plans are written documents or medical records that form an integral part of the nursing process. Different places may use slightly different formats, but the final document achieves the same aims in every place. Nursing care plans guide how nurses provide nursing care to patients.
The documents help nurses working different shifts know the exact actions other nurses have taken for each patient. These records are a consistently reliable way of organizing and communicating the actions of everyone involved in patient care. Specifically, nursing care plans document assessment, diagnoses, planned interventions, and evaluation.
Each aspect is a precise process that nurses handle with ease. Once you learn how to write nursing care plans, your confidence will increase. And you’ll likely see better grades. The 5 Steps That Lead to Well-developed Nursing Care PlansNursing care plans do not follow the exact same format in every place.
That said, the following five steps should give you a document that satisfies your professor. Here are the steps on how to write nursing care plans: Assessment, Diagnosis, Planning, Implementation/Nursing Orders, and Evaluation. Let’s consider each step and see how each contributes to the final document. Step 1: Write the Assessment Section of Your Care PlanWhile preparing a care plan, assessment is the first step of the process.
As you fill out this part of the template, there are a few critical questions you need to answer. Why is the patient here? Why are they seeking care? What’s the patient’s general appearance? You need to be able to do an accurate and comprehensive assessment. Assessment is about collecting and recording different kinds of data.According to the, you should gather physiological, economic, sociocultural, and spiritual data.
You should also capture lifestyle information. Assessment seeks to understand the physical causes of pain, how the pain manifests itself, and how the patient responds.
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Your assessment may look like this: Anger directed at family and hospital staff, refusal to eat, request for pain mediation. Maybe your patient’s skin is cold and clammy.
The assessment section should be brief, just like every other section included in a well-written nursing care plan. Step 2: Fill Out the Diagnoses Part of the Care Plan TemplateThe diagnoses part focuses on the “What” of the patient’s condition. Here, you’re trying to answer this question: “What’s the patient’s problem?” The information recorded in this section helps nurses determine the care the patient will receive. The diagnoses part of a nursing care plan lists the conditions and health problems a patient is facing.It aims to develop a nursing diagnosis statement. 4 Types of Nursing DiagnosisNorth American Nursing Diagnosis Organization-International classifies nursing diagnoses into four categories.
Here they are: Actual diagnosis, Risk diagnosis, Health Promotion diagnosis, and Syndrome diagnosis. Each type of diagnosis can lead to an effective diagnosis statement, which is the main aim of the diagnosis section. Each diagnosis statement has three parts. The first part is the problem statement or diagnostic label.
For example, the problem may be nausea or anxiety. The second part is the “related to” or RT part. This part focuses on the cause of the problem.
The third part presents the defining characteristics. Defining characteristics, usually expressed as “as evidenced by” means the signs or symptoms that support your diagnosis. Actual DiagnosisAccording to NANDA-I, an actual diagnosis makes a clinical judgment about how a patient experiences or responds to health conditions or life processes. Actual diagnoses are existing problems that a nurse can identify. These conditions and life processes may exist in the patient, their family, or community.
Here’s an example of an actual nursing diagnosis: Ineffective airway clearance. Or, spiritual distress.
Another example: Sleep Deprivation. Risk DiagnosisA risk diagnosis describes human responses to life processes or health problems that may develop in an individual, family, or community.
Here, the family, individual, or community isn’t facing any condition, but they remain vulnerable. Certain risk factors may increase vulnerability for different conditions.
Risk diagnoses are health problems, conditions or situations that do not currently exist but which may occur. For example: Risk for shock. Health Promotion DiagnosisThis diagnosis refers to a clinical judgment regarding the motivation or desire of an individual, family, or community to increase wellbeing. It’s also about the desire or motivation to “actualize human health potential,” according to. That desire or motivation gets expressed as a readiness for specific health behavior(s).NANDA-I further states that a health promotion diagnosis statement normally starts with the phrase “Expresses desire to enhance.” For example: Expresses desire to enhance nutrition. Syndrome DiagnosisA syndrome diagnosis is a clinical judgment that describes a particular cluster of nursing diagnoses that normally occur together. Such diagnoses typically get addressed together and require similar interventions.
While writing this diagnosis, you must use at least two diagnoses as defining characteristics. For example: relocation stress syndrome.Here’s how you would write a complete nursing diagnosis statement for your assignment:Ineffective Airway Clearance: Diagnostic labelIneffective Airway Clearance RT fatigue: “related to”Complete statement: Ineffective Airway Clearance RT fatigue as evidenced by dyspnea at rest.Note: The “related to” and “as evidenced by.” parts are important when you’re writing nursing school assignments. However, they are not always necessary in nursing workplaces where nurses use computers to prepare care plans. One more thing: keep the nursing diagnosis book recommended by your school handy. It promotes accuracy and makes writing diagnoses somewhat easier. A Nursing Diagnosis is Different than a Medical Diagnosis: Write the Right DiagnosisDon’t confuse a nursing diagnosis with a medical diagnosis.
North American Nursing Diagnosis Organization-International (NANDA-I) clarifies the difference between a nursing diagnosis and a medical diagnosis. According to NANDA-I, a nursing diagnosis describes a patient’s responses to actual health problems or potential health problems. In contrast, a medical diagnosis defines an injury or disease process. Only a doctor can write a medical diagnosis.
So, avoid listing down diagnoses such as “Diabetes,” or “Heart disease,” or Cancer.” Based on a nursing diagnosis, a nurse can easily select an effective intervention method. Step 3: Write the Planning Part of Your Nursing Care PlanAt this point, you need to set specific, measurable, and achievable goals that guide care for the patient. You need to decide what short-range goals and long-range goals the patient’s care will pursue. So, what goals do you want to set for the patient?
Suppose you have an immobilized patient. You may set a goal suchas Patient will move from bed to chair 3 times per day. Another goal might be: Patient will tolerate clear liquids within 18 hours without vomiting and nausea.
Or, Patient will be pain-free within 3 hours. Let’s write down one more goal: Patient will report decreased nausea within 12 hours.
The goals are clear and measurable, and everyone involved knows what each goal means. Step 4: Complete the Implementation/Interventions PartThe Interventions part focuses on helping the patient and care providers achieve expected outcomes. Each patient’s record reveals the specific actions nurses need to take. So, write down the actual actions that require attention, including how often and how long. For example: Nurse to assess patient’s nausea every 6 hours.
Example 2: Nurse will administer pain medication as ordered or needed. Step 5: Finally, Evaluate the Nursing Care Plan; Decide if the Plan Needs ModificationNurses must keep evaluating their patients’ wellness or health status. They also need to keep evaluating the effectiveness of the nursing care provided. The evaluation section carefully considers each goal set for the patient. For this section, a goal was either “Met” or “Unmet.” What if a goal gets “unmet?” You may need to revisit the diagnosis step. You may also modify the goals or add interventions.
Nursing Rationales: Not Always Included but Your Professor May Ask You to Include itYour professor may ask you to include a nursing rationale in your nursing care plan. Nursing rationales can be confusing, and writing them may give you problems. You’ll understand rationales best if you can see how they interact with nursing diagnoses, care goals, and interventions. Basically, a rationale explains why a nurse set a particular goal or chose a specific intervention. Every nursing intervention needs a nursing rationale. Here’s an example of how you might write a nursing rationale:Pain control will help the patient improve their life by enabling them participate in physical therapy exercises.
Final Remarks on How to Write Nursing Care PlansWriting nursing care plans can be quite confusing. Nursing students may not always clearly understand the differences between the various elements of a care plan. It’s easy to confuse “Planning” and “interventions,” for example. Also, some students may not know how nursing diagnoses differ from medical diagnoses. One more thing: your instructor decides the specific format you should follow for your nursing assignment.
Hopefully, this post has described each part of a nursing care plan clearly and helpfully. Nursing Care Plan Writing Service For Nursing StudentsAre you a nursing student looking for a professional nurse to handle your nursing care plan assignment? We at provide students in United States of America, Canada, UAE, Australia and United Kingdom with nursing care plan writing services at affordable costs. NCP is an integral document in delivery of effective nursing care and achievement of desired patient outcome. The plan details actions, interventions and care that a patient receives in his treatment process. Therefore, a nursing care plan should be unique and individualized according to patient needs.
Our nursing writers are well knowledgeable and equipped with how to write nursing care plans for different diagnosis, making us the best nursing writing website to seek.See video below on nursing care plan tutorial.