Every day, all shift long, nurses are using critical thinking skills in their job no matter where they work. The stronger those skills are, the higher the quality of care they provide to their patients. Even from the start of the shift and prioritizing the tasks at hand, the ability to problem-solve and make decisions on the fly are critical to each of the nurse’s assigned patients and to those s/he will interact with for other nurses throughout the shift. As nurses know, everything can turn on a dime without warning. Some things are never anticipated such as falls and codes and other incidents especially to patients who don’t fit…
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More than one right answer – learning critical thinking skills
For the present, the COVID19 virus has students around the world pretty much excluded from in-person, hands-on nursing programs of any sort. Although some classes have been able to carry on with online sessions, these may be even more challenging for some students who struggle with this venue. Nursing at all levels from CNA to Advanced Practice and Ph.D. programs, is a very different type of learning altogether. All our lives as students there has been basically one right answer for test questions. For example, 2+2=4 in math no matter where you are and what language you speak. Common core and other ridiculous versions may take you through multiple unnecessary…
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New Products from SupportForNurses.com
If you noticed that my posts here were few and far between over the summer, I can now show you why. I was very busy updating 3 e-booklets and developing a new e-Toolkit for SupportForNurses. All of these products can be very helpful to new nurses in particular, and to experienced nurses who need some support and encouragement to deal with new challenges we face everyday. They can be useful tools for preceptors and mentors as guidelines to help new nurses come up to speed. They are also useful tools for nurse educators in nursing programs to assist students to grow into fine new nurses. Nurse educators in facilities can…
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Demystifying Critical Thinking Skills
Critical thinking skills is a term nursing students and nurses will hear over and over again. They are an important aspect of quality patient care, the nursing process and a must in the list of qualifications for registered nurses. But sometimes they become very mysterious as nurses present them in publication such as white papers or a thesis and nursing students can become overwhelmed in trying to make sense of it all. It’s really not a complex concept, but is an essential one to understand. I have tried to demystify critical thinking skills. I hope this is helpful.