Posted: October 27th, 2023

Effective critical thinking in your clinical practice area

Teachers of critical thinking methods often advocate general “tools of the trade” to promote effective practices. Among these tools are reading, analysis, and debate. In effect, these tools represent foundational nursing practices of interprofessional collaboration and evidence-based practice. This offers nurse educators yet another reason to advance such practices. Doing so not only promotes best practices of specialty nursing but prepares nurses to think critically as they solve problems.

For this Discussion, you will examine strategies that promote effective critical thinking in clinical practice.

LEARNING RESOURCES

Required Readings

• Canada, A. N. (2016). Probing the relationship between evidence-based practice implementation models and critical thinking in applied nursing practiceLinks to an external site.. Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 47(4), 161–168.
• Walton, B. (2017). Are you in congestive nursing failure? Legal issues, critical thinking, and the impact on practiceLinks to an external site.. Ohio Nurse’s Review, 92(4), 16–23.
• Zuriguel-Perez, E., Falco-Pegueroles, A., Roldan-Merino, J., Agustino-Rodriguez, S., del Carmen Gomez-Martin, M., & Teresa Lluch-Canut, M. (2017). Development and psychometric properties of the nursing critical thinking in clinical practice questionnaireLinks to an external site.. Worldviews on Evidence-Based Nursing, 14(4), 257–264.

Safety and Quality of Care Resources

• Lyle-Edrosolo, G ., & Waxman, K. T. (2016). Aligning healthcare safety and quality competencies: Quality and safety education for nurses (QSEN), The Joint Commission, and American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) magnet® standards crosswalkLinks to an external site.. Nurse Leader, 14(1), 70–75.
• The Joint Commission. (2020). National patient safety goalsLinks to an external site.. https://www.jointcommission.org/en/standards/national-patient-safety-goals/
• QSEN Institute. (2020). ResourcesLinks to an external site.. https://qsen.org/faculty-resources/
• Dongjuan, X., Kane, R., & Arling, G. (2019). Relationship between nursing home quality indicators and potentially preventable hospitalisationLinks to an external site.. BMJ Quality & Safety, 28(7), 524–533. 
• Evangelou, E., Lambrinou, E., Kouta, C., & Middleton, N. (2018). Identifying validated nursing quality indicators for the intensive care unit: An integrative reviewLinks to an external site.. CONNECT: The World of Critical Care Nursing, 12(2), 28–39.
• Pinto, S., Regina, V. & Ferreira, M., & Cruz, S. (2017). Indicators for the assessment of the quality of nursing care: A descriptive-exploratory studyLinks to an external site.. Online Brazilian Journal of Nursing,16(2), 140–151.
• Ju, Q., Huang, L., Zhao, X., Xing, M., Shao, L., Zhang, M., Shao, R., Ju, Q.-Y., Huang, L.-H., Zhao, X.-H., Xing, M.-Y., Shao, L.-W., Zhang, M.-Y., & Shao, R.-Y. (2018). Development of evidence‐based nursing‐sensitive quality indicators for emergency nursing: A Delphi studyLinks to an external site.. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(15–16), 3008–3019.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (n.d.). Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: Quality improvement and monitoring at your fingertipsLinks to an external site.. https://www.qualityindicators.ahrq.gov
• (Previously read in Week 4)

To prepare:

• Review the Walton article, “Are You in Congestive Nursing Failure? Legal Issues, Critical Thinking, and the Impact on Practice,” found in this week’s Learning Resources. As you review, consider the strategies the author presents that promote critical thinking, including:
• knowledge work
• self-talk
• schema search
• prototype identification
• hypothesizing
• if-then thinking
• comparative analysis
• juxtaposing
• reflexive comparison
• reframing
• reflection check
• From the list, select two strategies you most commonly use to employ effective critical thinking in the clinical practice arena.

Post and describe the two strategies you selected that you commonly use to employ effective critical thinking in the clinical practice area or your practicum experience. Provide an example from your practicum experience of each strategy and your analysis of this strategy. Explain how you know that the strategy is successful. Be specific.

Use the Learning Resources and/or the best available evidence from current literature to support your explanation.