ADPIE nursing care-plan guide
Use assessment, diagnosis/problem, planning, implementation and evaluation as a reasoning sequence.
By Solice editorial team · Updated August 7, 2026
Direct answer
ADPIE is a nursing-process sequence: assessment gathers and verifies information; diagnosis or problem identification interprets relevant cues; planning sets outcomes and actions; implementation carries out authorized actions; evaluation compares observed progress with the goal and informs revision.
Start with supplied facts and the required purpose
Begin with the case or assignment information actually supplied. Preserve missing, conflicting or uncertain details instead of filling them with a plausible value.
The same structural check can support School and Work, but the authoritative requirements differ: a rubric and permitted sources for School; current assessment, local policy and the authorized clinical record for Work.
- Assessment: what is known, missing or conflicting?
- Planning: what outcome can be observed?
- Evaluation: what changed and what follows?
Make every link inspectable
A care-plan element is easier to review when the reader can follow why it is present. Connect the relevant cue to the selected problem or priority, the priority to a measurable goal, the goal to an intervention, and claims to a retrievable rationale or source.
A complete-looking chain is not proof of clinical appropriateness. Keep user judgement, supervision and local requirements visible at every step.
- Do not skip from a cue directly to an action.
- Keep implementation within role and policy.
- Use evaluation to revise the plan.
Verify before use
Check the current case, assignment or local policy, and the references you are permitted to use. Confirm identifiers and displayed citation details rather than inventing missing bibliographic fields.
This guide provides educational organization, not diagnosis, treatment, a grade or a substitute for professional judgement. It does not supply proprietary nursing terminology.
- Confirm patient or case facts in the authorized source.
- Check the exact rubric, template or policy.
- Use licensed terminology only through an authorized source.
- Record what remains unresolved.
Sources and further reading
- The nursing processAmerican Nurses Association. Overview of assessment, diagnosis, outcomes/planning, implementation and evaluation.
- Evidence-based practiceAgency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Public evidence-based-practice resources; not a patient-specific recommendation.
- QSEN competenciesQuality and Safety Education for Nurses. Competency context including patient-centred care and evidence-based practice.