Priority Setting in Nursing Care
Priority setting determines which patient needs are addressed first. Nurses use frameworks like ABC and Maslow to make safe decisions.
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What you must know about Priority Setting
Use the ABC framework — Airway, Breathing, Circulation — to identify life-threatening priorities.
Apply Maslow’s hierarchy: physiological needs before psychosocial needs.
Address actual (present) problems before potential (at-risk) problems.
Prioritise acute, unstable patients over stable, chronic ones.
Use the nursing process (assess before acting) to guide decisions.
Safety-threatening situations take precedence over comfort needs.
NMCN Exam Tips
How this topic appears in the NMCN exam
ABC first — airway/breathing problems are the top priority.
Physiological needs outrank psychosocial ones (Maslow).
Actual problems before potential/at-risk problems.
Unstable/acute patients before stable/chronic ones.
Practice Question
Test yourself
A nurse is caring for four patients. Which patient should the nurse assess FIRST?
Explanation
Using the ABC framework, a patient with difficulty breathing has a potential airway/breathing problem that is life-threatening and must be assessed first, before routine, comfort, or administrative needs.
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Related topics to study
Maslow's Hierarchy
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Priority Question Framework
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