Use a concept map to describe the Sympathetic & Parasympathetic Nervous Systems. The concept map is a method to teach critical thinking skills and prepare you to apply nursing theory to the clinical setting.

Step 1: Start with the main concept map topic.

1. Patient care plan: This patient care plan topic covers anything deemed relevant to patient care, from past medical history to risk factors. The intended purpose is to equip nurses with every piece of information that could aid in devising the right care plan for the patient.
2. Medical diagnosis: Medical diagnosis maps dive into any element that pertains to the diagnosis of the disease. This includes risk factors, symptoms, medications, complications, and interventions.
3. SBAR: This acronym stands for situation, background, assessment, and recommendation. SBAR concept maps represent all the information nurses need to ensure smooth communication between them and doctors.
4. Nursing responsibilities: Nursing teams also use concept maps to delineate tasks and duties. For instance, the tasks expected from a surgical nurse will be specifically illustrated on the map. In this case, elements like prevention of infection, behavior response, and post-up care might be grouped around the main topic.

Step 2: Determine secondary subsections.

Once you’ve picked your main topic, the next step is grouping a set of subsections around it. Using a patient care plan map as our example, the elements below can be used as secondary subsections for the topic:

1. Assessment
2. Diagnostic process
3. Current patient history
4. Risk factors
5. Patient info
6. Past medical history
7. Medication list

Step 3: List key info for each subsection

After picking your subsections, supplement each category with key info that expands on each concept. Using the same patient care plan example, here are some possible key elements for the secondary subsections above:

1. Assessment > Diagnosis
2. Diagnostic process > Lab results – physical assessment results
3. Current patient history > Day of admission – chief complaint
4. Risk factors > Use of tobacco products – dietary habits
5. Patient info > Age – sex – race – marital status
6. Past medical history > Childhood illnesses – major adulthood illnesses – surgical history – injury history – allergies – prior hospitalizations
7. Medication list > Medication one – medication two – medication three