Nursing Foundations and Fundamentals of Nursing
What this domain tests
Nursing Foundations carries the largest share of fundamentals items: nursing theories and models, the nursing process, vital-sign interpretation, asepsis and infection control, medication safety, positioning and mobility, fluid balance, and documentation. AIIMS-style items are applied vignettes, so you must reason from a scenario rather than recall a definition.
Core rules
- Nursing process: Assessment → Diagnosis → Planning → Implementation → Evaluation; evaluation loops back to assessment. Expected outcomes must be measurable, time-bound and patient-centred.
- Theorists: Nightingale (environment), Henderson (14 basic needs), Orem (self-care deficit), Roy (adaptation), King (interaction), Leininger (culture care), Peplau (interpersonal relations). Match theorist to concept in both directions.
- Adult vitals: pulse 60–100/min, respirations 12–20/min, oral temperature 36.5–37.5 °C, BP below 120/80 mmHg. Newborn heart rate is 120–160/min.
- Hand hygiene: WHO five moments. Alcohol rub when hands are visibly clean; soap and water when soiled or after caring for a patient with Clostridioides difficile.
- Medication rights: right patient, drug, dose, route, time and documentation - plus reason and response in current practice.
- Sterile field: edges about 2.5 cm are considered non-sterile; never turn your back on the field; hold bottles so fluid is poured from a height without touching the rim.
Worked example
Order: 1000 mL Ringer lactate over 8 hours; drop factor 15 gtt/mL. Drops/min = (volume × drop factor) ÷ minutes = (1000 × 15) ÷ 480 = 31.25, so 31 gtt/min. Had the set been a microdrip (60 gtt/mL), the answer would be 125 gtt/min - always confirm the drop factor before dividing.
Traps that cost marks
- Dividing by hours instead of minutes, or assuming 60 gtt/mL for a macrodrip set.
- Confusing Orem's self-care deficit with Roy's adaptation model.
- Ranking psychosocial needs above airway/breathing/circulation in priority items.
- Mixing units in intake–output charts (mL versus oz) when computing 24-hour balance.