Critical Thinking and Clinical Judgement

what is clinical judgement?

the skill that involves the interpretation of a patient’s needs, concerns, or health problems

what is clinical judgement directly linked with?

critical thinking

what separates professional nurses from technicians or other assistive personnel?

clinical decision making

what does a model explain?

the many variables involved making decisions and clinical judgements about patients

what is critical thinking?

objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement

critical thinking is a process gained through what?

experience, commitment, and active curiosity

critical thinking is the ability to think in a systematic and logical manner with:

openness to a question and reflect on the reasoning process

what is the aim of critical thinking?

the ability to focus on the important issues in any clinical situation and make decisions that produce desired patient outcomes

what does critical thinking consider?

what is important in any given situation

critical thinking is a way of thinking that asks what questions?

why, what am i missing, what do i really know about this situation, what are my options

how do you achieve critical thinking?

knowledge base, scientific literature, experience, practice

what happens when core critical thinking competencies are applied?

the complex and continuous nature of decision making and clinical judgement becomes clear

what cognitive skills interact, enabling nurses to apply the nursing process in clinical decision making?

recognize cues, analyze cues, prioritize problems/diagoses, generate solutions, take actions, evaluate outcomes

what is reflective practice?

a purposeful act in which significant experiences are examined, allowing one to identify the contradiction between one’s vision of their performance and actual practice

what is competency?

specific range of skills necessary to perform a task

what is critical thinking competency?

cognitive processes a nurse uses to make judgements about the clinical care of patients

what is intuition?

a problem-solving approach that relies on one’s inner sense. The ability to understand something immediately, without the need for conscious reasoning