This paper analyzes critical thinking in healthcare and how it applies in the nursing process; critical thinking is a mentally active process that is essential for safe, efficient, and skillful nursing intervention. This process allows for synthesis, analysis, and evaluation of information collected from the patient by observation, experience, or reasoning. The nursing process applies critical thinking when there are limited resources for a specific procedure. The nurse has to apply the decision making skill to ensure good results and patient safety.
critical thinking in healthcare and the nursing process
IMPORTANCE OF CRITICAL THINKING IN HEALTHCARE
Critical thinking in healthcare is important. It heavily impacts patient care in the nursing process. It allows nurses to anticipate patients’ needs, therefore, know what the patient requires. Critical thinking allows health professionals to recognize a shift in patients’ health status, therefore, allows them to act fast and save lives. Critical thinking also imparts health practitioners with the decision making skill in instances where they are required to make new plans within a short time. In some situations, nurses require critical thinking to gather and interpret data so that they can make choices that ensure patient safety.
importance of critical thinking in healthcare
THE MAJOR STEPS IN THE NURSING PROCESS
The nursing process involves five major steps; assessment, diagnosis, planning, implementation, and evaluation. Assessment involves critical thinking in healthcare and data collection which is subjective and objective. Diagnosis is a clinical judgment process for response to actual or potential health problems. Planning allows for the formulation of goals and outcomes that directly impacts patient care. Implementation is the step that actualizes the nursing interventions outlined during planning. This step requires decision making skill in cases where there is an emergency. The evaluation which is the last step allows the nurse to check for positive patient outcomes and their response to medication.
major steps in the nursing process
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