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5 SMART Nursing Goals PDF: Examples and How to Write

What are the 5 SMART goals in nursing pdf?

A “5 SMART goals in nursing” PDF is usually a downloadable template or example sheet that shows five nursing goals written in the SMART format: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. The “five” goals aren’t a universal, official list—most PDFs provide sample goals you can adapt to a patient, a unit, or your professional development requirements.

What the five SMART nursing goals typically look like

Many PDFs include a mix of patient-care and professional goals. Here are five common examples written in a SMART way:

Pain management: Patient will report pain ≤3/10 within 48 hours using scheduled assessments and ordered interventions.
Medication safety: Achieve 100% compliance with two-identifier checks and barcode scanning on every medication pass for the next 30 days.
Fall prevention: Reduce falls on the unit by 10% over the next 12 weeks by implementing hourly rounding and documenting fall-risk interventions each shift.
Patient education: By discharge, patient will correctly teach back three key self-care steps (e.g., wound care or inhaler use) with 90% accuracy as documented in the education record.
Professional development: Complete an IV therapy refresher and demonstrate competency by passing a skills validation by the end of the quarter.

How to turn a PDF example into a goal that fits your assignment

When using a SMART-goals PDF, swap in the exact patient condition, the metric you’ll track, and the deadline you’ve been given. If the “measurable” part is vague, define a number (score, percentage, frequency, time frame) and a documentation method (flowsheet, checklist, audit report).

A simple way to plan and track your SMART goals

Many nurses find it easier to stick with goals when they break them into weekly actions and quick check-ins. For a practical planning approach you can reuse with any SMART goal, visit this SMART goal planner guide for a step-by-step system to turn goals into weekly plans and measurable progress.

FAQ

How do you write a SMART goal for patient education?

State the exact skill to learn, how you’ll measure understanding (like teach-back), and a deadline (such as by end of shift or discharge). Add a clear success metric, such as “patient verbalizes 3 warning signs and demonstrates the procedure correctly.”