Was able to update my Voki!

Hi all! I have updated my Voki and hope you enjoy listening! Good luck to all!

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=5348291&height=267&width=200

Application of Critical Thinking to Patients

                                                 

 

In today's society, critical thinking is of great importance to the nursing profession to provide safe care and accurate priority in which situation to address first. Critical thinking objectives are being written and updated in schools of nursing and work place orientation periods (Kaddoura, 2010). I'd like to take an opportunity to pose a few scenario to my classmates to give feedback to me on which patient they feel need addressed first. Perceive you have just received report and are ready to assess four different patients. Of the following four which would you choose first and why?

1) 42 yo (female) admitted with pyelonephritis with a temp of 102 degrees.

2) 50 yo (male) on second day of admission with feeling of tingling in arm and b/p of 160/80.

3) 65 yo (female) fresh post op appendectomy with acute SOB and confusion

4) 30 yo (male) requesting his prn xanax for severe panic attack

Yes, these are rather different scenarios...anxious for feedback!

                                                                  Reference

Kaddoura, M. (2010). Effect of the Essentials of Critical Care Orientation (ECCO) program on the development of nurses' critical thinking skills. Journal Of Continuing Education In Nursing, 41(9), 424-432. doi:10.3928/00220124-20100503-05

Comment from Steve Jobs

Perhaps this comment from Steve Jobs will shed light on the importance of critical thinking in terms of loving our profession and critically choosing our teams! Enjoy this wisdom!

http://youtu.be/KuNQgln6TL0

Teaching our Students Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is one of many outcomes that most undergraduate programs have adopted as part of curriculum. Tools are in place to measure critical thinking skills upon exit of a nursing program usually in forms of questions in final comprehensive examinations. Critical thinking is a skill and without a nursing-oriented context for grounding this skill it is in and of itself meaningless. Faculty members must determine the end in the development of the context. Creative measure and criteria must be developed among seasoned nurses to pass this knowledge to the new generation of our profession (Billings & Halstead, 2009).

                                                                            Reference

Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2009). Teaching in nursing; A guide for faculty (3rd ed.). St. Louis,

MO: Saunders Elsevier.

Introduction to Teaching Students Critical Thinking

I love this clip on teaching others, perhaps students on the tools and importance of critical thinking. I think this is an ideal introduction to this portion of my list of objectives. As always, I welcome feedback!

Teddie

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/6OLPL5p0fMg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Teaching Each Other Critical Thinking Skills

As nurses, especially those of us who are seasoned at the profession realize the importance of critical thinking. it is certainly a responsibility of us to share this knowledge with others and even other disciplines of persons caring for our patients. For example, the persons who work in radiology such as the technicians are not always aware of or exhibit knowledge of critical thinking (Kowalczyk, 2011). It is noted that nurses are among the first of the health care team members to demonstrate examples of making critical decisions quickly in emergent and non-emergent scenarios. An example of teaching other department members would perhaps use a patient scenario in a grand round sitting. I have been using grand rounds in post conference with a nursing students and have them demonstrate their knowledge to me after I present them with a case scenario. This is just a simple idea and example of mine, even though I'm sure there are many more sophisticated methods of teaching this principle.

                                                                         

                                                                     Reference

Kowalczyk, N. (2011). Review of Teaching Methods and Critical Thinking Skills. Radiologic Technology, 83(2), 120-132.

Enjoy another viewpoint from various persons on critical thinking and making a difference....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dwhEXQrzs4&feature=related

Hi! I hope I created a successful voki! Click on the link and it shall take you to a page with a gal's face. Click on the far left at the bottom of her face to hear my voice. Hope this works!

Teddie

http://www.voki.com/pickup.php?scid=5348291&height=267&width=200

Critical Thinking: Why bother?

Implication of Critical Thinking in Healthcare

"Health care leaders who develop a critical perspective of the relationship between culture and health; value respect for differences, inclusiveness, equity, and social justice; and use their power to enact these values in their spheres of influence, both professionally and personally, are better able to improve care for the diversity of clients," (Getzlaf & Osborne, 2010). Certainly the previous quotation was rather lengthy from the article I obtained the literature from, yet I felt I could not word it more clearly nor in a better way to comprehend. This statement literally gives a professional overview of the implication of critical thinking in the health care system. Even though the statement is geared towards leaders, the defining components are certainly applicable to others in the arena.

A applicable example of critical thinking in my own life at this moment is that of creating appropriate priorities of study and work habit in the two classes I am taking on line with Kaplan. Time management, deciding which project, task, assignment and posting takes up a part of my time in determining how to get accomplishments finished in an appropriate time. 

The development of critical consciousness (a new term for me) can be thought of as being aware of not only the meaning, method and necessity, yet can turn the attention to an organizational way of thinking. Certainly this applies as a cornerstone to the nursing profession as a critical learned experience (Getzlaf & Osborne, 2010). 

Is the ability to critically think a concept that can be taught or is it gained via life experiences? I am certainly open to comments from my classmates.

                                                                  Reference

Getzlaf, & Osborne. (2010). A journey of critical consciousness: an educational strategy for health care leaders. International Journal Of Nursing Education Scholarship, 7(1), 1p. doi:10.2202/1548-923X.2094

What is your personality?

Hi!

I borrowed this site from the link MAT posted for us. I took the personality quiz. According to this...I am fiesty! If my classmates take this and would like to share their "critically designated personality" kindly share!

http://www.quibblo.com/quiz/acWY_5K/What-is-Your-Secret-Personality

Teddie

Attempt to Define Critical Thinking

"Experts on critical thinking cannot agree on a definition for it, nor is there one way to measure it or the impact it has on patient care," (Billings & Halstead, 2009). As a nursing community, critical thinking is thought of as one of the cornerstones of the profession especially in terms of delivering quality care to patients. An example perhaps could be trying to decide which patient to assess after receiving report from the leaving primary nurse on a group of patients. Do you assess the patient complaining of a headache, the patient complaining of chest pain who is nauseated, the patient needing a blanket for warmth or the patient with a fever? Yes, this is a simple example of applying critical thinking skills, yet one that is easily understood. I would enjoy some posts from my classmates or "students" on other examples of the application of critical thinking.

                                                                  Reference

Billings, D. M., & Halstead, J. A. (2009). Teaching in nursing: A guide for faculty (3rd ed.). St. Louis, MO:  Saunders Elsevier.  

Also on a footnote...the photo I used on my blog is the site where my sister's cat of 18 years is buried. She had to put "Lucky" down this past summer and is still grieving the loss. His vet who cared for him his entire life allowed my sister to bury him and place a small headstone by the pond in front of his animal clinic and hospital. So, my blog is also a method to remember "Lucky."

Some Opening Remarks

Enter any type of healthcare setting today and the need for critical thinking is evident. Particular situations require workers to process and utilize a massive amount of information. Information shared in the healthcare field changes every day. Trending in health care forces the sicker patients to go home prematurely requiring complexed decision making. The patients cared for in facilities are at a all time level of higher aquity. Just being in the current class shows all of us that technology is advancing at a rapid speed and spills over into many diverse cultures (Bradshaw & Lowenstein, 2011).

This is just a simple introduction to the purpose of this blog regarding the art of critical thinking.

The following objectives will be looked at through various methods regarding this concept:

1) Most simple definition of the concept.
2) Implication in the healthcare setting.
3) Methods in how we can educate each other within the nursing profession.
4) Sharing our knowledge to those we teach.
5) Assess the need and application to the patients to provide best possible care.

I so welcome visits, posts, questions and feedback to this blog and I so enjoy sharing this learning process with my professor and classmates! :)

Bradshaw, M. J. & Lowenstein, A. J. (Eds.). (2011). Innovative teaching strategies in nursing and related health professions (5th ed.). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett.