Thinking Strategies in Nursing

Thinking Strategies
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Thinking Strategies
Nurses face numerous challenges in their profession that require them to use their acquired knowledge. Decision-making is one of the primary skills that every nurse should have because it is used throughout the profession. The primary role of the nurse is to meet the needs of the patients and preserve their health. While in clinical practice, nurses must be aware of numerous stakeholders' health in the healthcare system (Canada, 2016). Even while prioritizing patients' needs, the demands of the other stakeholders like the hospital management and physicians must not be ignored. However, most of the decision-making skills and strategies are used when dealing with patients. Some common strategies include knowledge work, self-talk, prototype identification, comparative analysis, reflexive, if-then thinking comparison, hypothesizing, schema search, reflection check, juxtaposing, and reframing. They are used expansively during a nurse's practice, and they are utilized on a case basis (Walton, 2017). While these strategies are taught in school, they are applied separately because mixing them may lead to confusion.
If-Then Thinking
In my practice, I often use if-then and hypothesizing strategies. Each of them has unique benefits that can bring out positive outcomes in every case. If then, the strategy helps in meeting the demands of various stakeholders in the healthcare facility. As explained earlier, each stakeholder has different expectations in the system, and neglecting them can lead to adverse outcomes that may endanger patients and medical practitioners' lives. This strategy helps in the implementation of action by anticipating the reaction of different stakeholders (Dongjuan et al., 2019). An example would be on whether to admit a minor patient with arm bruises without the parents' consent. Some of the anticipated outcomes would be a legal suit or a compliment and rewards from the parents when they know the situation. A nurse would wonder if it would be legal and ethical to treat the minor patient and discharge them. If the patient is retained in the hospital, then more resources in the form of time, food, and space would need to be allocated for the small injuries, and patients with critical needs would be ...