Critical Thinking for Nurses

Critical thinking is the ability to examine a matter in depth following the logical analysis. According to Rubenfeld & Scheffer (2010), critical thinking is intangible and requires individual effort. Often a critical situation has already occurred in the hospital and the nurse must act fast and practically by turning information to knowledge.

Based on critical thinking, as applied in nursing, abstract knowledge is normally converted into a well-thought decision. In the field of nursing, critical thinking is indispensable.  Patients tend to develop complications, that if not urgently addressed, the life is in danger and could be lost. The pattern of critical thinking entails logical reasoning, confidence, innovation, predicting as well as suppleness.

Marcia Hegstad

Marcia Hegstad clearly used critical thinking in her nursing profession. She was a clinical nurse, specialist for Diabetes at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Harbor, Michigan. Currently she supports doctors specialized in diabetic patients. Marcia is specifically involved in controlling blood sugar levels for hospitalized patients.  

According to Marcia Hegstad’s story, as highlighted by Rubenfeld & Scheffer (2010), critical thinking is applied in acute care for patients having unique glycemic problems. Marcia’s research seeks to address the needs of patients who are under enteral nutrition support, parenteral nutrition support and/ or steroids.

Practical application

Learning from Marcia Hegstad, critical thinking could result to practical enteral and parenteral nutrition solutions. As a nurse, I often handle cases of acutely ill patients. To determine the level of pain the patient is experiencing, I would ask various questions that provoke answers from the patient. At the same time, the answers would provide me with links on the best way to relieve pain.

According to Donna M. Penn (2009), data clustering and data validation are useful to interpretation the data relating to a patient’s illness. My whole focus would be on the patient and I concentrate on the ill body parts. Consequently, I would consider the patient’s physical, social, intellectual, spiritual history before implementing a specific nursing intervention.

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