Critical Thinking Flashcards
Essential in the nursing process.
Involves knowing as much as possible about each patient
Need to sort out the information into patterns to clarify problems, recognize changes, and make appropriate care decisions under pressure
Essential process for safe, efficient, and skillful nursing intervention
Improves patients’ outcomes
Critical Thinking
__________ = problem solving approach that nurses use to define problems and select appropriate treatment
Clinical decision making
___________ is a conclusion about a patient’s needs or health problems. What is going on with the patient and what is the best action to take in response? Good clinical judgment and decision making require you to investigate and analyze all aspects of the clinical problem and then apply scientific and nursing knowledge to choose the best course of action.
Clinical judgment
It is influenced by a nurse’s experience and knowledge. Your experience and knowledge help you to better determine what your assessment data means. Each pt you care for builds your experience and knowledge.
Clinical Judgment in Nursing Practice
_________ does involve knowing your patient, as well. What is their baseline? How do they typically respond to things? You need to get to know your patient and what their concerns are. Don’t just rely on the chart information or experience with other patients. Each pt is an individual with problems that are as unique as they are. Their problems are influenced by their physical health, lifestyle, culture, relationships, living environment, and their experiences.
So, you don’t always have a completely clear idea of what your patient’s needs are or what interventions are appropriate when you first meet them.
Clinical judgment
Conclusion about a patient’s needs or health problems
Influenced by a nurse’s experience and knowledge
Partly relies on knowing the patient
Influenced by the context of clinical situations and the culture of patient care settings
Nurses use a combination of different reasoning approaches
Clinical judgment in Nursing Practice
The ability to think in a systematic and logical manner
Critical Thinking
A continuous process
Identifying issues, analyzing and interpreting information, then drawing conclusions
Evidence-based knowledge in __________
critical thinking
____________ requires you to recognize issues, analyze and interpret information, then make conclusions based on this interpretation. (does this sound familiar? Like coming up with a nursing diagnosis)
Critical thinking
Interpretation
Analysis
Inference
Evaluation
Explanation
Self-regulation
Critical Thinking Skills
In nursing practice, this is collecting patient data in an orderly fashion; using reasoning while looking for patterns; categorizing the data (like with nursing diagnoses); and collecting more data or clarifying data that you are not sure about (confirm that chart data with the patient, for example).
Interpretation
Being open-minded when you examine patient data and not making careless assumptions; Does the data support what you believe about a problem, or could it be something else?
Analysis
Look at the meaning and significance of your findings. Are there any relationships between the findings? Does the data help you see that a problem exists?
Inference
Look at all situations objectively (putting your feelings or biases aside); Use certain criteria to evaluate (what are the expected outcomes, pain characteristics, or learning objectives for the patient?) to determine the results of your actions. Reflect on your actions and behavior.
Evaluation
Support your findings and conclusions with data and evidence-based rationale. Using knowledge and experience to choose the best strategies to use in caring for patients.
Explanation