The Importance Of Critical Thinking In Nursing

Knowledge through Life Long Learning
Nursing is a field in which one goes to work and learns something new every day. It is not a field that one can master, but a field in which one continually gains knowledge and skills through life-long learning. One of the ways in which a nurse gains knowledge and skills is by utilizing critical thinking along with the nursing process when caring for patients. Another way is by learning how to individualize health teaching according to physical, emotional, spiritual and socio-cultural needs of patients.
Critical Thinking and the Nursing Process
As the nurse uses critical thinking and problem solving with the nursing process in the day-to-day healthcare setting, it will enable one to prioritize and organize care given to patients. “Critical thinking is using skillful reasoning and logical thought to determine the merits of a belief or action” (Burton & Ludwig, 2015, p.50). The steps of the nursing process are collecting data, formulating a nursing diagnosis, planning and implementing an intervention, and evaluating the effectiveness of care given to a patient. Williams and Hoppers (2015) describe the nursing process as an organizing framework that aids the nurse in linking the thinking process and the nursing actions. So, the nursing process …show more content…
When a patient is having pain, concentration may be decreased, and one may be fatigued and irritable. This patient may not be in a state to receive education about one’s health and disease process. Another factor that influences learning is the emotional state of the patient. For example, a patient that has just experienced the loss of a parent and is crying, will not be in the proper emotional state for learning about one’s health. This patient will have decreased concentration and attention, and the nurse should postpone the teaching moment to a later time when the patient is more emotionally

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