Are you SUPER confused on what critical thinking means in nursing school?
Don’t worry, I’ve got your back!
In this video, I’ll walk you through what critical thinking is and how you can do it in nursing school.
Here’s what we’ll talk about:
There are 2 parts to critical thinking:
1. Connecting the dots with everything you’re learning
2. Planning ahead
I’ll also walk you through 9 critical thinking questions to ask to help you critically think while you study or take care of patients at clinical during nursing school.
Want more videos to help you raise your grades + save more time in nursing school?
And don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE to our YouTube channel and HIT THE BELL so you never miss out on any nursing school tips or resources.
Thanks for being all around amazing, my friend! Now go become the nurse that God created ONLY YOU to be. 🙂
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
So you’ve heard the phrase, “critical thinking” in nursing school about a gazillion times. But you’re still confused about what it means. In this video I’m going to walk you through exactly how to critically think in nursing school, and the 9 key questions to ask in order to do it.
What’s up my friend, Christina here with nursingsos.com and I know critical thinking is a total PAIN in nursing school right?! You think you’re doing it but then you wonder if you’re really doing it, and then you just get all confused about what it actually is. When I teach critical thinking to nursing students, I break it down into 2 main parts, the first part is putting all of the puzzle pieces together about everything you’re learning, like connecting the dots from lecture to clinical, and the second part is planning ahead, particularly during your nursing school clinicals.
Now, I’ve got 9 key questions here that you need to ask that will help you think critically about what you’re learning. And don’t worry, I’ve listed all of these in a free cheat sheet that I’ve got for you. Print it off and use it at clinical and during your study time to help you connect all the dots with everything you’re learning.
So these 9 key questions are:
– What do I need to assess and look for with this disorder? (Including lab values and signs and symptoms)
– How does this disorder impact a patient without comorbidities? (meaning, this is the ONLY health concern, disorder or disease they have)
– How does this disorder impact a patient with comorbidities? (meaning, they have ANOTHER health concern, disease or disorder at the same time)
– What interventions are most likely to be ordered by the doctor? What would you expect to see ordered for this patient, including medications and lab draws.
– What interventions are within my scope of practice as a nurse to do without an order? So what can you do as the nurse to help this patient get better, things like position changes and patient education, things like that.
– How do these interventions impact a patient without comorbidities? So how would that medication or position change or other intervention impact the patient and their condition?
– How do these interventions impact a patient with co-morbidities? So ask yourself how that medication or position change or other intervention impact the other illnesses the patient has.
– What patient and family education needs to occur?
– What other disorders or problems are commonly associated with this disorder?
This list of critical thinking questions walks you through just about everything you need to know about your med-surg disorders in nursing school. So let’s talk about how to use this list:
As you’re studying your med-surg disorders, walk through each of these critical thinking questions for each disorder and make sure you can answer them. These questions will help you connect the dots between all of the things you’re learning. And if you’re at clinical, walk through these questions to make sure you’re understanding how all of the pieces fit together – what you need to assess for based on their situation, what other diagnoses they have and how their primary diagnosis impacts the other ones, what do you think the doctor will order for them and how will that affect their health, and what education do you need to do with the patient.
Now let’s walk through an example of what this would look like. So if you’re learning about stroke or if you’re taking care of a patient who had a stroke, then you would walk through each of these critical thinking questions.
What will you need to assess for, well you would definitely want to assess their mental status and neurological function and safety factors such as swallowing or walking difficulty. If the patient has another health concern, such as hypertension or heart disease, ask yourself how stroke and those other disorders connect. What interventions can you expect the doctor to do or order, things like tPA and aspirin which are medications, or a CT scan. What things can you do by yourself without an order, things like making sure the patient is safe at all times by having them wear non-skid socks and making sure their bed is lowered and that they sit up during and after meals to prevent aspiration. And decide what patient and family education needs to occur, like how to use assistive devices like walkers, what medications they are getting and why, and what follow up appointments need to be made.
So as you’re studying, use these 9 critical thinking questions to help you put all the pieces together and connect the dots with what you’re learning.
If these critical thinking questions helped you out, write LOVE in the comments below and hit the like button. And don’t forget to subscribe and hit the bell so you don’t miss out on any other nursing school tips and tricks.
Now go become the nurse that God created only YOU to be. And I’ll catch you in the next video.
