Critical Thinking

For any successful career, one needs to apply and incorporate critical thinking in the daily rendering of services. The skills are vital in saving lives. The skill is as vital in other fields as it is in nursing. Clinical skills are important but without critical thinking skills; a nurse cannot be competent. In the nursing school, a nurse will learn how to dress a wound, perform first aid and save lives but this accounts for 99% of what a nurse is expected to do; additional skills, such as critical thinking, are required. A critical thinker is accurate, logical, precise, fair and complete. The same skills help nurses interpret, analyze and evaluate their moves before taking action. By doing this, they will be in a position to justify any action that they take.

I have come across many instances in life where I was supposed to apply critical thinking skills. I remember, some few months ago, while helping at the local hospital as a volunteer, I had to respond to an overhead code on the ED. I did not consider that I was just helping as a cleaner. All that mattered was the fact that I knew that what was about to happen was going to be a fatal failure. I had noticed that while the doctor in charge was getting the arterial line into the patient’s body, an intern had zeroed it even before the insertion process was complete. This brought a big difference in the pressure readings and the waveform. It actually happened! When the doctor went to take the blood pressure readings, the monitor indicated 60/30. This was not the actual reading, and therefore when the doctor, hurriedly went on to open the Dopamine, I intercepted. I let him know that that was not the patient’s real blood pressure. I had noticed that the patient had a palpable radial pulse and was not pale as would be expected in someone with such levels of blood pressure. I stepped forward and zeroed the line which then read 132/74. I then went on to explain to the doctor where the problem was. The doctor was shocked by my knowledge in some procedures and functionality of some machines at the hospital. He agreed with me that the reading must have been wrong since he was working on an artery and such a low blood pressure was not close to being realistic. I had saved a life.

Having decided to apply for admission in the nursing school, I understand the seriousness involved in the profession. It will, therefore, be my duty to make informed decisions that are well-researched since a person’s life is not a thing to gamble with. I will be overly excited to learn the different functionalities of machines used in the profession to save lives.