pls help

[Sierale]

I am a second year and am sudying my head of but my grades arent good.

My problem is critical thinking and focusing on nursing intereventions. How can I improve this.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

the nursing process is the way to learning how to think critically. if you follow it's steps in sequence you will generally remain on the road of rational thinking. assessment, the first step in solving any problem, is more than just figuring out what went wrong, it involves pulling together all information that applies to the situation--that could be from any discipline and not just nursing or medicine. when answering questions you must:

• know and consider the normal anatomy and physiology
  
• know and consider abnormal anatomy for the disease in question
  
• know and consider the resulting signs and symptoms when the disease occurs and how they proceed from mild to fatal - each sign and symptom can be related back to the pathophysiology of the disease
  
• know and consider how the doctor diagnoses and treats the disease in question
  
• know nursing interventions for the signs and symptoms you are being asked about
  
• know the steps of the nursing process and what goes on in each of the steps and consider how they are affecting the question you are being asked
  
• know and consider the principles behind the actions being done - there are many kinds of principles: principles of nursing, principles of biology, principles of chemistry, principles of physics, etc.
  
• read the stem of the question carefully and answer that because the test makers try to trip you up by distracting you with conflicting information they give you in the answer choices that sounds good but has no relationship to what the question is asking for
  
• ask yourself "why" a patient is experiencing some sign or symptoms to get at the underlying problem. nursing like other disciplines treats the problem/signs and symptoms.

you should review the information and links on this thread as well:

• https://allnurses.com/forums/f50/looking-test-taking-stratagies-224581.html - looking for test taking strategies

also:

http://www.templejc.edu/dept/ems/documents/presentations/1stsemesterparamedic/ptassessment/clindecisionmake.ppt - clinical decision making concepts

just like doctors order treatments (interventions) for the various signs and symptoms of the person's medical disease, we order nursing interventions for the signs and symptoms of the patient's nursing problems. you will find these interventions in nursing books by the symptoms they are treating.