Critical thinking in nursing means connecting a patient's disease, symptoms, and treatments into one picture, then planning what you need before you enter the room. Use concept maps to organize related health issues and checklists for equipment so you don't waste time backtracking during shifts.
What the heck does critical thinking mean and are you doing it right in nursing school? We're gonna answer those questions and more in this video. But before we get started, make sure that you subscribe to this channel and click the bell icon so you do not miss out on any other tips and tricks and resources to help you raise your grades and spend more time with your family. Yes, it's possible during nursing school. Let's do it. So exactly what is critical thinking in nursing? I know it's one of big questions on your mind right now, so let's break it all down really. There are two parts to critical thinking in nursing and those are number one, putting all of the puzzle pieces together and connecting the dots, and number two, planning ahead. Now let me explain what these mean and I'll give you some tips for them as well. And as you're watching this video, leave a comment below and tell me which critical thinking tip speaks to you the most and which one you're most excited to try first. Putting all of the pieces together means that when you are at nursing school clinicals or you're writing a care plan or a paper on your patient, you understand the disease process, the disorders or health issues that your patient is facing and you were able to really put them all together and connect the dots with things like what you'll need to assess for the interventions that you should be doing to help them through that condition and get better, the medications you'll need to give and the patient education that you might need to do do. So critical thinking in nursing goes beyond just learning about heart failure, copd, stroke, and all of those other med surgical disorders that you've got to know in nursing school. You'll need to understand all of that stuff, sure. But critical thinking in nursing takes it one step further. You need to apply all of that knowledge to your patient and figure out exactly how the disorder relates to the other health conditions they have, decide what you need to assess for or figure out what interventions should or should shouldn't be done. Now, if you want a deep dive into some critical thinking points to help you study or while you're at clinical to help you critically think through these things, then you will definitely want to check out the other video we've got for you on how to critically think, we'll pop up a card right here and we'll also put that link down below in the video description for you to check it out. So be sure to check that out if you need it. So so let's walk through an example of this, let's say that you have a patient who is overweight, has diabetes and hypertension. Now all three of those health issues go hand in hand. So let's say that this patient tells you I'll take my diabetic medications as prescribed and I'll be all better. Is that really going to help solve all three problems? No. So you need to be able to critically think through the pathophysiology of each of those disorders and connect the dots so you'll know what to do and what to say to this patient. In this case, sure, an anti diabetic medication can help reduce blood sugar levels, but a healthy diet and exercise should also be added to help reduce weight and reduce blood pressure. And possibly an antihypertensive medication treatment could help as well with that blood pressure. So that's the first key to critical thinking in nursing. Putting all of the puzzle pieces together and connecting all of those dots. Now here's my tip for you here. Concept maps. When you can write all of these critical thinking pieces out visually, it will really, really help you connect the dots. So to do a concept map, you'll put the main issue in the middle and then have all of these related pieces connected to it. And then you'll do the same thing for the next disorder and the next. And it's just a really great way of putting all of those puzzle pieces together visually. So I definitely recommend trying this thinking tip out the next time you're studying in nursing school. Now, the second part to critical thinking in nursing school is the ability to plan ahead. How often do you get into the patient's room and you realize you don't have everything you need, or you forgot the saline flush, or you got the injection all ready to go but you forgot your alcohol swab. That's the second part of this, planning ahead so you don't get tripped up later and have to backtrack what you're doing at clinical. So make, make sure that before you do anything, take a minute, think through what you're about to do and walk through it in your mind and make sure that you have your game plan down. Now here's my tip for this. Make a list of the most common things you do at clinical. Things like assessing your patient, giving medications, doing wound care, things like that. Make a whole list of the most common things you do at clinical and then for each one of them, write out what you need for each one, like the supplies and everything. So for example, assessing a patient, you'll definitely want your watch, a stethoscope, pen, light and gloves. So all of those things should be included under your assessment. So it will look kind of like this. You'll have all of the different things you do at clinical listed and this will vary depending on your clinical site and what location you're at. And then under each category, you'll make a list of everything that you need to bring into the room with you. This will really, really help you plan ahead and prepare for the unexpected expected, which is a huge part of critical thinking in nursing and in nursing school. And of course, eventually, the more that you do this and practice it, the more you'll be able to critically think through everything you need to do and the better you'll get. You'll automatically know what to do to prepare. You will be a rock star. So leave a comment below and let me know which critical thinking tip you're most excited to try to take your critical thinking skills to the next level. Thank you so much for watching this video, friend. I'll see see you in the next video.
