critical thinking

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i have a paper to write on how i plan to develop and incorporate critical thinking skills as a nurse, any suggestions. im only 2 months into school and still having trouble on critical thinking!!!

thanks

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Maybe you should start with defining to yourself what critical thinking skills are? Might be a place for you to start?

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

i incorporate critical thinking (the nursing process) into most of my posts on the help with care plans thread (https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/help-care-plans-286986.html) when i answer care plan questions. you might want to take a look at how i do that. a care plan is nothing more than figuring out what a patient's nursing problems are and then determining what i am going to do about them. that is problem solving. the nursing process (critical thinking) is the tool we use to solve problems in nursing. however, it works well in other walks of life. here is an analogy of how the nursing process (critical thinking) can be used to solve a real world problem that you might be familiar with:

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. the spare tire needs to be put on the car. (your goal) "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 are websites that explain more about critical thinking and the nursing process:

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Specializes in o.

That was a fantastic example of critical thinking!

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thanks for the help, now i know i was making it harder then it realy is. Thanks again for the help

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