Book excerpt: All nursing students are required to meet the seven standards produced by the Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC) before being entered onto the professional register. Fundamentals of Assessment and Care Planning for Nurses addresses two of these important standards, helping readers become proficient in assessing patient needs, and planning, providing and evaluating care. This timely publication adopts a practical approach with NMC proficiencies at its core, providing guidance and insight into the application of key skills and demonstrating competency in real-life settings. Centres around a fictitious nuclear family to provide a practical basis to the various chapters and assessment Offers mnemonics to enable comprehensive history taking and systematic physical assessment Helps readers address socio-cultural considerations they may face in practice Includes links to literature that provides further support and additional information Fundamentals of Assessment and Care Planning for Nurses is an important resource for pre-registration nursing students and Nursing Associates who are required to demonstrate proficiency in the new NMC standards, and other registered practitioners seeking to update their knowledge.