Critical thinking and analysis: a model for written assignments

Patient Risk Assessment in the PACU: An Essential Element in Clinical Decision Making and Planning Care

Decision making in post-anaesthetic care practice is an underresearched area. The patient undergoes rapid and profound physiological change in the early stages of recovery. The practitioner is required to assimilate information about the patient, assess his clinical status, plan proactive care and provide an immediate reactive intervention depending on his/her condition. Knowledge and understanding of the standard risks of anaesthesia and surgery ensure that the practitioner is able to prevent complications arising in the routine recovery. This article investigates the role that risk assessment plays in clinical decision making and planning care in the post-anaesthetic care unit.

Critical thinking: A two-phase framework

This article provides a comprehensive review of how a two-phase framework can promote and engage nurses in the concepts of critical thinking. Nurse education is required to integrate critical thinking in their teaching strategies, as it is widely recognised as an important part of student nurses becoming analytical qualified practitioners. The two-phase framework can be incorporated in the classroom using enquiry-based scenarios or used to investigate situations that arise from practice, for reflection, analysis, theorising or to explore issues. This paper proposes a two-phase framework for incorporation in the classroom and practice to promote critical thinking. Phase 1 attempts to make it easier for nurses to organise and expound often complex and abstract ideas that arise when using critical thinking, identify more than one solution to the problem by using a variety of cues to facilitate action. Phase 2 encourages nurses to be accountable and responsible, to justify a decision, be creative and innovative in implementing change.

The academic writing experiences of a group of student nurses: a phenomenological study

AIMS

To investigate the academic writing experiences of a group of preregistration nursing students. To explore issues surrounding how academic writing skills were developed, integrated and received into the student's educational programme and how these skills impacted on various aspects of their educational and clinical experience.

BACKGROUND

The development of an academic writing style is seen to be an integral skill that the student must be willing to learn and undertake within higher education settings. Academic styles of writing have been imported into nursing education as a consequence of its integration into higher education. I wanted to investigate the experiences of learning an academic style of writing for students early on in their nursing career. There is little, if any, research that seeks to investigate or measure these experiences of nursing students.

METHODS

A phenomenological approach to investigate the academic writing experiences of a group of preregistration students.

FINDINGS

There is an expectation that preregistration students will quickly acquire academic writing skills when most will have had little or no prior experience. There appeared to have been little emphasis placed on facilitating the development of these skills in the educational programme. The lack of emphasis and support proved to be problematical for these nursing students. The emergence of a theory-practice divide also figured strongly. Students were, however, able to appreciate the need and place for academic writing skills and most were able to identify the structural processes that were integral to acquiring such skills.

CONCLUSION

A plethora of anecdotal evidence, supported by the findings in this study, suggests that most nursing students' struggle with the demands placed upon them when writing academic assignments. The need for greater emphasis and support throughout the whole period of training are highlighted in the findings of this study. It is known that nursing loses large numbers of its students to the academic rigors of its educational programmes. Where this is the case, the findings of this study support the need for nurse educationalists and curriculum planners to revise and reform the way that they approach and deliver the demands of an academic style of writing with their students.

The holism in critical thinking. A concept analysis

In nursing, critical thinking is particularly important because of its potential impact on patient care. With the rapid changes in health care and the influx of new technology, nurses must be able to use critical thinking to make decisions that provide optimal patient care. The rapid, dynamic changes occurring in the health care setting have dictated a stronger, more comprehensive, holistic way of arriving at decisions than the traditional nursing process. This more comprehensive, holistic approach is called critical thinking. Nurses must be able to engage in critical thinking to handle the onslaught of continuous procedural and technological changes. Critical thinking has become such a key component in learning that the National League for Nursing requires that graduates be able to demonstrate critical thinking. This article is a concept analysis of critical thinking using the Walker and Avant model.

The Breast Cancer Distance Education Program: development and evaluation of a course for specialist breast care nurses

The Breast Cancer Distance Education Program is the first tertiary-based education program for specialist breast care nurses in Australia. The program covers current treatment options, psychosocial issues, and professional development issues relating to breast cancer nursing. For the first two student intakes (n = 53), precourse, postcourse, and 3-month follow-up surveys were conducted to assess the perceived value of the course, identify any limitations, and note changes in practice that arose. Before taking the course, most of the students had experience in breast cancer nursing, but lacked confidence and hoped to learn more about responding effectively to psychosocial issues through communication, counseling, and provision of support to patients and their carers. After taking the course, the students were very positive about the course content, resources, and teaching support. They reported learning new skills for addressing psychosocial issues and symptom management arising from a diagnosis of breast cancer, stating a desire to implement these new skills. Comparison between results from the three surveys indicated that students' confidence in providing breast cancer support increased significantly in most areas of practice, and was maintained at 3-month follow-up survey. Results suggest that students met the course objectives successfully, and in most cases subsequently translated their knowledge into improved practice.