Critical Thinking Essay

Running head: CRITICAL THINKING 1

Critical Thinking in Nursing Practice
Scott Rhoades
Walsh University

CRITICAL THINKING 2
Critical Thinking in Nursing Practice Nurses initially learn to appreciate what the field and profession has to offer them. They learn and establish ideas, concepts and theories of nursing and develop intellectual capacities and skills so that they become disciplined, self-directed, critical thinkers. So they may be able to think in a systemic, holistic view and reflect on the reasoning process used to ensure safe nursing practice and quality of care is what critical thinking encompasses. In some aspects it is thought of as thinking about your thinking while you are thinking in order to enhance your thinking: more clarity, more accurate or more justifiable. Every nurse uses critical thinking at some point in their day. Once a nurse begins to work in a clinical setting, they begin to gain experience in all sorts of different topics, ranging from dealing with family members and physicians, to changes in the body and knowing what are the proper steps to take. Nurses are taught critical thinking skills in order for them to become safe decision makers once in practice. Nursing is never a superficial, meaningless activity. All acts in nursing are deeply significant and require the nurse to have a mind fully engaged in the practice of nursing. It is a very trusted and honored career in the eyes of the general public. Documentation is an essential part of the critical thinking process for the nurse. Every institution places emphasis on documentation. It is often said, “if it is not documented, then it was not done”. The nursing process is a scientific process in itself, and therefore all things must be documented. Once the nurse has reliable documentation, researchers are able to look back at the written work to see if an intervention was successful or not. Many times interventions or

CRTICAL THINKING 3 procedures are done that have no effect at all; this all is shown in the documentation of a good critically thinking nurse. In critical care it is very important that all documentation be clear and detailed. Problems can go wrong so fast and so easily in an intensive care unit, all nurses must be outstanding critical thinkers and great documenters. These two concepts go hand in hand. Critical thinking helps the nurse to navigate the complex and stressful environment of the intensive care unit. In one example, such as a Cardiovascular Surgical Intensive Care Unit, there may be a code blue situation that arises in the

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