Critical Thinking In Nursing Essay

Teaching critical thinking to students is an essential tool to give the students a solid foundation when they are entering the workplace. Nurse educators are called upon to teach the student the fundamentals of nursing. Critical thinking by one definition is the ability to analyze and process the analysis in order make informed decisions while caring for the patient. The purpose of this paper is to review some of the literature in order to help decipher what critical thinking is all about and to take a look at the importance and potential ways in which to teach critical thinking to nursing students, Literature Review Critical Thinking at the Bedside

Ask any healthcare professional if critical thinking is a necessary tool to have while working with patients and the answer would be an overwhelming YES! IF you ask those nurses how did they develop critical thinking the answer varies, Nurses would not be able to provide sound patient care without book knowledge which aids in critical thinking. In the article Brain Power: Critical thinking skills are nursing’s stock and trade (2011), the author points out that critical thinking is not the same as problem solving. Critical thinking is the process of taking information and applying it to a situation to solve or improve. As an operating room nurse, I utilize critical thinking on a daily basis.

In the practice of clinical nursing, attending to salient information, understanding and responding to a patients issues often takes place without any conscious deliberation at all. The nurse has the ability to immediately perceive a situation and respond independently to a linear reasoning process. Intuition has been described as a 6th sense (Burnard,

Critical Thinking: Tanner (2006), had introduce the term ‘thinking like a nurse’. When I read this article I was wondering what it means and takes to think like a nurse, I am a nurse by profession and yet I don’t even know what it means. In order to be a professional nurse, nurses are required to learn to think like a nurse. To my surprise, to be able think like a nurse, a nurse got to clearly defined and understands what is critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Both terms are powerful terms and these terms explain the mental processes nurses use to make certain that they are doing their most excellent thinking and decision making for their patient’s better outcomes.

The advancement in medical science, technology and complexity of the current patient care, demands the nurses to be prepared with the knowledge and skills in Assessment and Intervention, Effective Communication, Critical Thinking, Patient Relationship, Leadership, Management and Teaching. As the required competency increases, the curriculum needs to prepare the nursing graduates to have these core competencies as outlined by COPA model (Competency Outcomes and Performance Assessment)” (Lenburg, 1999 a, b). The BSN curriculum is tailored to accommodate these professional development requirements, the modern era demands that incorporate a broad scope of practice, giving a better edge in competency compared to an ADN, especially in Critical Thinking. A noteworthy point is that the differences in clinical competencies of a BSN and ADN are few compared to management, leadership, decision making and communication competencies.

It is important that nurses acquire skills such as communication skills- both verbal and non-verbal, therapeutic, and clinical decision making among others. The ability of a nurse to communicate well and make appropriate clinical decision, determines the success of holistic assessment in nursing practice. There is no doubt that the capability of a nurse to provide the best and quality care is largely dependent on her or his ability to communicate, judge and make clinical decisions.

Information processing theory The information processing theory is a structure which rationalises how people obtain; process and store information and knowledge (Tangen & Borders 2017, p. 99). The Information processing theory involves the clinical reasoning cycle and the information processing model. The clinical reasoning cycle is a model which guides nurses and other health practitioners in making clinical judgements (Levett-Jones 2018, p. 4).

Nurses need the ability of fast critical thinking skills and observation of declining signs and symptoms. Nurses also must have the ability to educate

My Personal Philosophy and Values of Nursing Nursing is proving care, support, and serve people who are in need. The purpose of nursing is to improve patient 's health condition to a better life. The goal of this paper is to explain my personal philosophy and clarify some of my values of nursing. Personal Philosophy

Christian nurses are given the unique ability to provide compassionate and spiritual care to a variety of patients. The purpose of this paper is to explain my definition of nursing as a caring art, describe how Christian faith impacts caring, describe my personal philosophy of nursing while identifying my own personal values and beliefs, and discus how my beliefs impact my nursing practice. To me, nursing as an art of caring, is defined as caring for the whole person, building meaningful relationships, and providing compassionate care. Holistic nursing care involves healing a person physically, emotionally, and spiritually. I believe the art of nursing is embedded in the steps we take to address problems that are not simply physical.

Critical thinking is the attentive and meticulous judgment and evaluation of one’s beliefs and thoughts. It helps to establish the steps to be taken in response to a one’s own observations, experiences, arguments and expressions. The process of critical thinking embarks with the conscious evaluation of our thoughts and ideas to improve and enhance them in accordance with the changing environment. It is a means of increasing our own awareness and take command of our own thinking processes so as to think more effectively. It results in more rational, accurate, clear, and consistent thoughts that are apt for the surrounding ever-changing environment.

What does nursing mean to me? Nursing means helping people heal, meeting their needs while they are in your care, listening to concerns, protecting them from harm, and educating them how to care for themselves while treating them with dignity, compassion and respect. Nursing is giving of yourself to the care of people and community, while expecting nothing in return. It is having compassion for people and their health, being a humanitarian, and making sure patients receive the best care possible. Nurses must also deal with families of patients with gentleness and kindness, realizing they are going through a stressful situation also.

Therefore, People who are more capable of solving problems enjoy cognitive, emotional and communication skills at a higher level. They are able to build healthy relationships and suffer from less depression and anxiety [6,7,8]; Moreover, they have higher confidence and motivation to efficiently deal with problems [9]. The art of nursing requires knowledge, skills and expertise. Problem-solving is an essential skill contributing greatly to effective nursing performance [10]. Problem-solving skills and knowledge-based decision-making are the expected behavior of nursing students [11].

Phases of therapeutic relationship: Pre-Orientation: • This is a phase in which a nurse goes through before the actual interaction with the client. • This phase begins when the nurse is assigned a client to develop therapeutic relationship with him, till she goes to him for interaction. • Reaction of the nurse in pre- interaction phase . • The nurse feels and thinks about the client before interaction according to her knowledge, fears and mis-concepts • Express feelings of inadequacy and fear of hurting or exploiting the client .

According to the study Magnet Environments for Professional Nursing Practice, nurses of excellence take the time to listen, understand and protect the patient 's cultural beliefs. Intuition The best nurses use experience, scientific knowledge, and instinct when assessing patients. Intuition in nursing is defined as the immediate understanding of a problem without the necessity of conscious thought. Nurses pick up on the smallest cues, nuances and seemingly unrelated patient statements that may render further investigation.