Critical Thinking In Clinical Practice

Critical thinking is a term you will often here in regards to nursing education and the ability to be a successful nurse. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills of a nurse. Nurses must be able to constantly asses and analyze situations in order to prioritize what is the most important task to accomplish next. This is an ever changing situation in health care and especially in the Intensive Care Units.

As indicated by Chitty & Black, there are many things involved with thinking critically. It isn’t an easy process that can be learned

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.

staff, the skill level of the nursing staff, and the education/certification of nursing staff” (ANA, 2015). These

This will provide nurses with the confidence and skills required to become successful, competent healthcare providers who will become future leaders and advocates of the nursing profession.

Nursing is not just a collection of tasks. To provide safe and effective care to the clients, nurses must integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes to make sound judgement and decisions. This essay describes some of the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes of nursing and discusses why they are essential attributes of a competent nurse.

Transforming education is included in the second key message of IOM report. Nurses require top levels of education and training to function in ever more multifaceted health care structure. So it is vital for the nurses to advance the education and training without difficulties. Chances to improve education from Licensed Practice Nursing or Associate Degree in Nursing to Baccalaureate science in Nursing and then to advanced degrees must be accessible and available. Besides clinical skills, health policy, evidence based practice and research, quality improvement teamwork and leadership should be added in the competencies while developing educational programs. Program of study should be modified to make sure that the nurses are prepared their best to perform their tasks. In addition to that there should be opportunities available for cross training to improve teamwork and collaboration, to ensure patient safety ("ISNA Bulletin," 2011, p. 11).

Attaining a high level of education will improve the healthcare system only if nurses are fully utilizing their knowledge and abilities. Many times nurses face challenges in exercising their abilities and knowledge due to institutional policies or government regulations,

The health care system consists of variety of occupations that are linked together. One of the professionals that is crucial to the system is the nurse. Nurses are part of the many professionals that work on the “front lines” of the health care system. To achieve optimal patient care, nurses collaborate with other members of the “health team” to provide the most resources possible. Nurses are just one of the regulated health care professionals; specific rules and guidelines control how he/she is supposed to work. There are several areas of the health care system that a nurse can specialize in. For instance, specializing to be a maternity nurse. By upholding the regulations and guidelines of the nursing profession, the opportunities to

Critical thinking and clinical judgment are important skills that professional nurses use in every day clinical setting. In 2012, a mix method qualitative study by Dr. Jeanne Mann was done to evaluate the effectiveness of educational strategy to develop clinical judgment skills in nursing students. In this study, the population was identified as volunteered Level II baccalaureate nursing students from a Midwest nursing program. The variables identified in this article are the relation between critical thinking and clinical judgment. The title of the article clearly indicated the focus of the study and created an interest in reading the research due to nurses utilize their ability to critical think and

Nursing is one of the most popular professions in healthcare. To become a professional nurse, one must acquire certain level of education, whether it is at associate or baccalaureate degree level. Once becoming a nurse a number of professional standards must be maintained to stay abreast with the profession. In that respect, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in its 2010 report had suggested many recommendations focusing on the future of nursing. The aim of the report is to put forth recommendations that allow nurses to “(1) ensure that nurses can practice to the full extent of their education and training (2) improve nursing education, (3) provide opportunities for nurses to assume leadership positions and to serve as full

Nursing education has progressed throughout history from one of uneducated lay persons to the current standards we know today. As the career has progressed it has become apparent that there is a need for a skilled labor forced trained to deal with the sick and dying, “the provision of nursing care by American women…demonstrated the effectiveness of skilled nursing on improving outcomes for sick and injured soldiers” (Creasia & Friberg, 2011, p. 4). However, as the career progresses so does the need for more specialized training amongst nurses to help them deal with the changing atmosphere of patient care. The future

Furthermore, licensing and accreditation standards must be heightened to insure the quality of the nurses that enter the workforce. Certifying organizations must therefore mandate the proper demonstration of core competencies and skills prior to endowing students with the nursing title. The nursing profession, according to the IOM report, must undergo fundamental changes within the overall education of nurses. In many respects the basic

Hand (2006b) states that education is an important component of the nursing role and the quality of

The School of Nursing also believes in providing students with enough education, knowledge, skills and enough experience so as to make them more competent in the nursing field and caring (statement of philosophy, 2014). It