Clinical skills library
Assess, document, and plan care the way nurses actually do it: in order, for a real-feeling patient, with every step tied to a reason. Start with Mr. D. and follow him through every skill.
Skill path
The Mr. D. series
Mr. D. is a fictional 72-year-old admitted with pneumonia. Assess him, listen to his lungs, read his vital signs, call the provider, document, diagnose, plan his care, and calculate his medications. Each guide stands alone, and together they show the whole nursing process.
Assessment · 10 min
The full sequence, from primary survey to skin and safety, with what each system is asking and how to group findings into priorities. Includes a printable checklist.
Read the head-to-toe guide →Assessment · 9 min
Adult normal ranges, blood pressure categories, orthostatic vital signs, accurate measurement, and how to read a trend.
Read the vital signs guide →Assessment · 10 min
The focused respiratory assessment in order, normal and adventitious breath sounds, and how to state whether a patient is improving.
Read the respiratory guide →Communication · 9 min
How to structure a provider call and a bedside handoff with SBAR and ISBARR, including a full worked call.
Read the SBAR guide →Documentation · 9 min
What belongs in S, O, A, and P, plus SOAPIE, a complete worked note, and the mistakes instructors flag most.
Read the SOAP note guide →Documentation · 8 min
Focused DAR notes, narrative notes, and charting by exception, written up for the same patient side by side.
Read the DAR notes guide →Documentation · 9 min
The documentation errors instructors flag most, from vague language to charting ahead and unsafe abbreviations, each with a rewrite.
Read the charting mistakes guide →Care planning · 10 min
Nursing vs. medical diagnoses, the four NANDA-I types, clustering cues, PES statements, common examples, and mistakes.
Read the nursing diagnoses guide →Care planning · 11 min
PES diagnoses, prioritization, SMART outcomes, interventions with rationales, and evaluation, with one priority worked in full.
Read the care plan guide →Medication safety · 11 min
Dimensional analysis for tablets, liquids, weight-based doses, IV pump and gravity rates, and completion times, with rounding rules and safety checks.
Read the dosage calculation guide →Browse by area
Every guide in the library, grouped by the part of nursing practice it builds. New guides are added regularly.
Collect the right data in the right order, and notice what has changed.
Write and say what you found so the next person can act on it.
Turn priorities into measurable plans, and keep the patient safe while you do.
The method
Whether you're at the bedside, in a simulation, or answering an NCLEX case study, the reasoning is the same.
Gather data with a question in mind, not just a checklist.
Connect findings into problems and rank them by urgency.
Choose actions that target the cause, within your scope.
Make your reasoning visible to the next nurse.
Practice in simulation
Shadow Health, i-Human, and Sentinel U cases test assessment, documentation, and care planning together. Our simulation guide library shows how these skills apply case by case.