Critical Thinking in Healthcare Providers

Critical Thinking
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Critical thinking
Health care providers play a vital role in the provision of quality and safe care. They provide essential services that help in the prevention of diseases, promotion of health, and treatment of diseases (Andrea Sullivan, 2012). However, their effectiveness is often compromised due to the challenges they face. Today, the health care systems are facing unprecedented challenges such as shortages of care providers, increased life expectancy, the emergence of new chronic disease, advancements in technology, fragmentation of services, financial constraints, and diminishing public trust in health professions, and increased regulations and protocols (Jones, 2010). As such, to navigate these complex challenge, health care needs to have critical thinking and critical reasoning skills.
In the healthcare system, clinical skills are crucial, but critical thinking and critical reasoning are at the core of being an effective health care professional. For example, in nursing, critical thinking help nurses to prioritize and make informed decisions that save patients' lives. In reality, critical thinking can mean the difference between someone living or dying (Jones, 2010). For example, in acute care, nurses require these skills to make timely decisions to save patients suffering from chronic diseases such as heart diseases, diabetes, cancer, stroke, kidney diseases, and respiratory diseases that are the leading causes of death and disabilities across the world. Besides, these type of skills are not only used in clinical care, but also for making important policy decisions.
The role of nurses in health care cannot be overlooked. Nurses are at the frontline in the provision of quality and safe care to patients. Nurses’ help in managing physical needs, treat health conditions, and prevent illness (Siddiqui, 2015). They do so by observing and monitoring patients as well as recording any important information that assists in decision-making. Also, nurses help in advocating for patients' best interests and ensuring the patient’s dignity is maintained throughout treatment (Jenkins et al., 2011). Similarly, nurses help in the planning of care as well as patient education and support. Typically, nurses follow the progress of patients and are responsible for the holistic care of patients including, cultural, psychosocial, developmental, and spiritual needs.
Nurses must possess critical thinking skills to make informed decisions in the ever-changing, complex healthcare challenges. When effectively used, critical thinking helps nurses to solve patients' problems and make informed decisions. These skills are essential in the provision of safe, adept, and proficient nursing interventions (Jenkins et al., 2011). Therefore, nurses must embrace actions that promote critical thinking and refine their skills in critical reasoning to improve their effectiveness and decisions. Similarly, they should also use these skills to utilize the limited resources to achieve maximum benefits for patients.
Moreover, critical thinking is essential as nurses have different multidimensional knowledge to handle numerous situations encountered amidst changing conditions and make crucial cl...