Question Description
Please respond to the following post with a paragraph
Critical thinking as defined by (The Foundation for Critical Thinking, (n.d.) is the “ability to think in a systematic and logical manner with openness to question and reflect on the reasoning process used to ensure safe nursing practice and quality care”. Nurses must use critical thinking in every aspect of the nursing process. For example the nurse taking care of an elderly man with pneumonia who is requiring high flow oxygen, understands and uses critical thinking prior to showering the patient without continuous oxygen while in the bathroom. She understands that his tissue perfusion will be altered for such activity. Instead the RN chooses to bathe the patient while in bed, with continuous oxygen, also includes breaks to preserve energy while ensuring patient safety is maintained. Using such skill improves patient outcomes. “Critical thinking skills are very important in the nursing field because they are what you use to prioritize and make key decisions that can save lives” (NurseJournal.org, 2018).
“The term evidence-based practice has become pervasive in the health care industry. This concept signals a major shift in how health care providers deliver their services, and in how health care institutions function. It is no longer acceptable just to perform in a given way because “that’s how it’s always been done.”(Melnyk, B., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2005). An example of evidence based research change would be instead of automatically inserting foley catheters for convenience of the nurse, the nurse instead would evaluate the need of an indwelling catheter and by doing such evaluation she/he prevents a hospital acquired infection.
Finally evidence base practice and the use of critical thinking both play important roles in providing safe and effective patient care, while improving patient outcomes. If a nurse does not use critical thinking while providing care, injury may happen.
References
Melnyk, B., & Fineout-Overholt, E. (2005). Evidence Based Practice in Nursing and Healthcare: A guide to best practice. New York: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
The Value of Critical Thinking in Nursing Examples. (2018). NurseJournal.org. Retrieved fromhttps://nursejournal.org/about-us/#Published
The Foundation for Critical Thinking. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-th…
