Critical Thinking

Nursing Students General Students

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hello all!

i am starting nursing school on august 27. i am really scared. i started nursing school last fall and failed the first semester:cry:. i had a hard time dealing with the content of the nursing exam questions. toward the end of the semester, i was catching on a little. but that was to late. i just can't seem to grasp the idea. i was wondering if anyone has any thing to suggest, any books i can buy to read to help me grasp this, or any sites to go to. i am just at a lost and scared that i am going to fail again. i want to be a nurse so bad. i have been a medical assistant for 7 years, and i love taking care of patient's. the doctor that i work for told me today that i would make one heck of a nurse. that made me feel really good. i told him i would make it if i could get over the hurdle of the critical thinking part. how does one study for those types of tests. i appreciate any comments. take care.

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Get a good NCLEX review book like Saunders and start practicing now. There are pointers that help you pick the best answer etc. Good luck!

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I, too, had a very hard time grasping the "critical thinking" notion that my Fundamentals instructor was ALWAYS lecturing about. She would lecture "this is the way we want you to think and this is going to get you through the NCLEX." I had no idea what critical thinking really was until I was on allnurses and found a post from Daytonite (I think she might be a guardian angel :saint: to ALL nursing students) and she explained what critical thinking was. After reading her post, I finally understood it LOUD and CLEAR. Plain AND Simple. I had no problem passing my exams but once I figured out what this critical thinking was...it all made much more sense. I will try and look around for Daytonite's post to lead you that way but I do know that it dealt with you hear a noise as your driving down the road, you stop, find you have a flat tire, and replace it with the spare. Something to this sort but once you read it...I almost guarantee you will be a critical thinker!!! I will try and find it for ya.

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I hope you find this we all want to read it. :)

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Specializes in RN.

i didn't know exactly how to link this so i copied the quote. i too read this post and found it very helpful. this is under the thread: need information: a better understanding of the nursing process. it's in the general discussion area. i just searched for the phrase "flat tire" to find it. that really helped...lol.

the nursing process is quite simply a problem solving process. it was extrapolated from the scientific process. however, you have been using a more common methodology similar to the nursing process to work out problems in your own personal life for years and you learned it through trial and error. let me give you an analogy that you can recognize and explain how it is similar to the nursing process:

you are driving along and suddenly you hear a bang, you start having trouble controlling your car's direction and it's hard to keep your hands on the steering wheel. you pull over to the side of the road. "what's wrong?" you're thinking. you look over the dashboard and none of the warning lights are blinking. you decide to get out of the car and take a look at the outside of the vehicle. you start walking around it. then, you see it. a huge nail is sticking out of one of the rear tires and the tire is noticeably deflated. what you have just done is step #1 of the nursing process--performed an assessment. you determine that you have a flat tire. you have just done step #2 of the nursing process--made a diagnosis. the little squirrel starts running like crazy in the wheel up in your brain. "what do i do?" you are thinking. you could call aaa. no, you can save the money and do it yourself. you can replace the tire by changing out the flat one with the spare in the trunk. good thing you took that class in how to do simple maintenance and repairs on a car! you have just done step #3 of the nursing process--planning (developed a goal and intervention). you get the jack and spare tire out of the trunk, roll up your sleeves and get to work. you have just done step #4 of the nursing process--implementation of the plan. after the new tire is installed you put the flat one in the trunk along with the jack, dust yourself off, take a long drink of that bottle of water you had with you and prepare to drive off. you begin slowly to test the feel as you drive. good. everything seems fine. the spare tire seems to be ok and off you go and on your way. you have just done step #5 of the nursing process--evaluation (determined if your goal was met).

here is a website with another analogy to real life:

what the nursing process does is take this problem solving process and break it into 5 defined steps giving you specific tasks you need to do in each step. if you were a chemist working on some research, you would have a similar type of problem solving process to follow, but it wouldn't be called the nursing process. however, it would certainly involve reviewing the data that is known, determining what the problems are, planning the next experiment, initiating it and then evaluating the results. this is what makes our profession scientifically based--this problem solving process is rational and based on principles of critical thinking.

now, adpie is the mnemonic, a memory tool, for the 5 steps of the nursing process. the little scenario i posted above is another type of memory tool, a story. you can earn about other memory tools here: http://www.psywww.com/mtsite/memory.html. but, you need you learn the nursing process one way or another because you are going to be using it from now until the day you retire from nursing. it is so useful. as a student it will help you organize and get through the writing of care plans. it also works in just solving problems that come up in clinicals and on the job. something that i realized several years into my working life is that looking for and collecting data on a patient is a constant activity. one little piece of information can totally change the way we are treating a patient's nursing problem. assessment is the first, and most important, step of the nursing process.

here are the steps of the nursing process and what goes on in them:

  1. assessment (collect data from medical record, do a physical assessment of the patient, assess adl's, look up information about your patient's medical diseases/conditions to learn about the signs and symptoms and pathophysiology)
  2. determination of the patient's problem(s)/nursing diagnosis (make a list of the abnormal assessment data, match your abnormal assessment data to likely nursing diagnoses, decide on the nursing diagnoses to use)
  3. planning (write measurable goals/outcomes and nursing interventions)
  4. implementation (initiate the care plan)
  5. evaluation (determine if goals/outcomes have been met)

and, if you want to read more about the nursing process, here are websites about it:

the phrases, or language, needed to complete nursing diagnostic statements are actually contained in the nanda taxonomy and you can use them until you develop a better understanding of the individual diagnoses and feel more comfortable composing your own statements to accompany the diagnostic labels (the shortened versions of the diagnostic problems). there are a number of ways to acquire this information.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

this was also addressed on this sticky thread:

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Specializes in TCU.

Thank You so much!

I begin the nursing program in the Fall, and having this little tid bit of information will be very helpful!

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When I got my first degree, my GPA was 3.86 and now since I have been in nursing, I have watched my GPA decline. But, I hear this is common in nursing school. I flunked the first nursing test, thinking I passed it with flying colors! But, I went to my advisor and she told me to watch a video on how to take the test. Yes, you have to study on how to take nursing test. There are always two right answers, and you have to decide which is the BEST right answer.

I am now in my second year of nursing and have not flunked a test since that first one. ( I hope I didnt just jinx myself!) But, it is important to understand how to take these test, before you take them. The instructors do not give you any warning that the test are not like your average test. Memorization does not really help get you through it, and most of the test are not concrete.

But make sure you do study the tips in your Saunders book, its right on the money when taking nursing test.

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