The primary purpose of the nursing process is to provide patient-centered, data-driven care through assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.

• A. To complete administrative tasks quickly
• B. To follow physician orders precisely
• C. To provide patient-centered, data-driven care through assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation.
• D. To document only after discharge

Answer: (C)

The nursing process is a systematic, patient-centered, data-driven way to deliver care. It uses thorough assessment to gather data, forms nursing diagnoses, plans care with specific interventions, implements those interventions, and evaluates outcomes, using what’s learned to revise the plan as needed. The option that describes patient-centered, data-driven care through assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation best captures this approach. Other choices don’t fit because they focus on rapid administrative tasks, strictly following physician orders without nursing judgment, or documenting only after discharge, which ignores the ongoing, data-informed cycle of assessment, planning, action, and evaluation that guides nursing care.