As a staff nurse, thinking outside of the box may not be as usual or as routinely as we do every shift, like doing endorsements or administering medications. On the floor, not every issue, challenges and patient’s problem requiring nursing intervention necessitate out of the box thinking. We incorporate the nursing process, with adequate knowledge, nursing skills and attitude learned from getting the degree and through our mere experience. Many problems can be effectively solved using a more conventional approach. However, sometimes to achieve more effective outcomes, innovative thinking is required but in order to do so, one must gain ample experience to foresee crisis that may happen upon the application of the nonconventional. Getting out of the box means sticking with the problem longer, and looking at it from various sides, which may not always be suitable for a fast paced nurse, even with the right time management nurses are naturally multi-taskers and are known to accomplish one job to get on with the other. In the box thinkers often believe that every problem needs only one solution; therefore, finding more than one possible solution is a waste of time.…
Admit the patient using critical thinking skills to assess and prioritise nursing interventions related to Audrey’s.…
1. What is the difference between an experience nurse and a new nurse when it comes to utilizing critical thinking? As new nurse, you make a more conscientious effort to apply critical thinking skills because you are more task oriented and trying to learn how to organize how you will perform your nursing care activities. An experienced nurse uses more creativity and innovation when faced with a situation; you learn a variety of different approaches for the same therapy and are more self-assured in the decision you make. Critical thinking becomes less utilized because a seasoned nurse has become experienced on different situations that a new nurse might not know how to approach.…
Hood, L. J. (2010). Critical Thinking. In Leddy & Pepper’s Conceptual Bases of Professional Nursing (7th ed., p. 160). : Lippincott Williams&Wilkins.…
Communication between interdisciplinary teams is important for successful implementation of critical pathways. Nurse Olivia Witte is responsible for the interdisciplinary team and needs to develop a critical pathway for ventilator-dependent patients who are being discharged to home with home healthcare. The critical thinking exercise regarding Nurse Witte provided insight to the importance of teamwork between departments and nursing. The purpose of this paper is to discus the problems with the development of critical pathways that Nurse Witte ran into, who is responsible and what she should do to accomplish her tasks, what modes of communication and message structuring will help Nurse Witte to effectively develop and implement the critical…
Critical thinking is an important skill a good nurse must possess. This separates the task oriented nurse from the nurse who practice nursing using professional autonomy based on knowledge. In a study lead by Dr. Linda Aiken, findings confirmed that there is a strong link between RN education level and patient outcomes and that for every 10% increase in the proportion of BSN nurses on the hospital staff there was an association with a 4% decrease in the risk of death (American Association of College of Nursing, 2012, pg.2). Strong nurses must use critical thinking skills to foresee and anticipate a patient trending down and the actions needed to be done to save a patient’s life to have a positive outcome for that patient. “Research has shown that lower mortality rates, fewer medication errors, and positive outcomes are all linked to nurses prepared at the baccalaureate and graduate degree levels” (American Association of College of Nursing, 2012, pg.1).…
Mrs. MH is a 72 year old woman who has a primary diagnosis of Diabetes Mellitus Type II. Her secondary diagnosis and the reason why she was referred to Hackensack home health agency was a non-healing wound on the second toe of her right foot. Upon assessment of the patient, current health needs which were identified pertain to wound care, nutrition, and proper management of Diabetes through compliance with insulin treatment, and knowledge on prevention of hypoglycemic and hyperglycemic episodes. The current plan of care for Mrs. MH and the visit skill relate to wound care and Diabetes self-management.…
Each health care team member has to be able to anticipate problems and avoid them when possible. This is accomplished by using critical-thinking skills. As a Licensed Practical Nurse critical thinking is a big role that comes hand in hand in your carrier. The problem solving process is a conscious growth production method dealing with challenges in your life. As a nurse you will define the problem, decide on a goal, choose alternatives, evaluate the effectiveness of your approach, and finally repeat the process if the solution is not effective to best help your patient recover from the current issue. Focusing on learning to be assertive in nursing benefits both you and the patient. The primary goal of health care is to restore optimal physical, emotional, and spiritual health to patients. This goal is accomplished by promoting health, preventing further illness, and restoring health when illness or…
For my finial reflection I have decided to reflect on the reflective practice itself and my abilities to practice reflection, as it appears I am having some issues with the process. After receiving an A- on my last reflection, I spoke with my Faculty Advisor (FA) with the intention of discovering why I was not achieving marks in the A+ range on my reflections, and what I need to work on to improve on the quality of my reflections. Her feedback was that I was too broad in my approach; I spend too much time discussing the event and did not go into enough depth in my reflective analysis. I hope and anticipate that this reflection will be better; as I hope to demonstrate a deeper analysis of the issue and techniques I can use to improve my skills.…
The experience I went through was the complete opposite of linear thinking. I had to dig deep into my cognitive abilities for each obstacle I was challenged with. There were times in which metacognition kicked in. For instance, while breastfeeding Madelyn, I would get anxious and question if she was okay. Should I stop feeding her or keep going? Is she turning blue or is it my imagination? Should I call the nurse over? Mental images of her not breathing replayed through my head. Metacognitive monitoring became habitual for me when it came to hearing the monitor alarms that the twins were hooked up to. I knew that the slightest stretch of the leg or that any movement encountered during a diaper change would falsely set off the alarms. It became…
There are many instances in the recent past that will affect me greatly in my educational pursuits at Colorado Christian University. I am currently employed as a full time nurse and have been for the better part of the last five years. In that time, I have worked in several different settings; I’ve worked acute care, critical care, obstetrics, pediatrics, emergency care, and long term care. No matter what setting I’ve worked, I’ve noticed that my personality and faith play a big role in the care I provide my patients. Another key component that affects the care I provide is my knowledge; I am always looking for ways to expand that knowledge. In the past, I haven’t put a lot of effort into my schooling. However, with my growing experience as…
In any profession, it is important for every employee to be present and self aware of what they are doing. Thinking can and will minimize work errors from occurring and create an environment of safety. Although there are numerous policies that have been put into place to reduce the amount of errors that occur in the nursing field, a nurse that lacks thinking may still make mistakes. It is imperative for all nurses to understand the significance of thinking. About a week ago in clinical I witnessed an overworked RN practicing nursing without thinking.…
If it is “no” for questions 1 to 5, a conscious decision might be to…
Nursing consists of a wide variety of roles. Nurses practice in mostly all community and healthcare settings. Clinical reasoning and critical thinking are used in every nursing actions and decisions such as diagnosing, evaluating and intervening. As a caregiver, nurses are at the forefront of healthcare. Faced with all different scenarios, nurses are required to use critical thinking to make the best decisions that lead to the best patient outcome. As caregivers, to promote improved patient outcomes, nurses show critical thinking by looking beyond just solving the problems at hand, but looking carefully for more severe problems that might occur, taking into consideration patient’s concerns and preferences. This is being a vigilant nurse.…
Critical thinking is the disciplined, intellectual process of applying skilful reasoning as a guide to belief or action (Paul, Ennis & Norris). In nursing, critical thinking for clinical decision-making is the ability to think in a systematic and logical manner with openness to question and reflect on the reasoning process used to ensure safe nursing practice and quality care (Heaslip). Critical thinking when developed in the practitioner includes adherence to intellectual standards, proficiency in using reasoning, a commitment to develop and maintain intellectual traits of the mind and habits of thought and the competent use of thinking skills and abilities for sound clinical judgments and safe decision-making.…