Nursing Critical Analysis

Critical Analysis of a Personal Experience in Nursing
Susan Main
66819440
Faculty of Nursing
University of Manitoba

November 17, 2010
NURS 3430
Ruth Dean
Nurses must think critically when making decisions in their daily practice to provide effective care in our health care environment. Critical thinking begins by asking questions about any situation. In this paper I will describe my most memorable experience in nursing and then I will conduct a critical thinking analysis using the “IDEALS” framework from Facione (2010). The “IDEALS” framework is devised of six questions for effective critical thinking and problem-solving. These include identifying the problem, defining the context, enumerate choices, analyzing, reasoning, and
I had some concerns for this patient’s safety so I asked him if he was taking medication for depression. He stated he was. I inquired if he was seeing a psychiatrist for his condition. He replied,” I have not seen him in a while”. We discussed whether he should make an appointment with his doctor soon. I asked him if one of our dialysis doctors could talk to him about what was going on because I was worried for his safety. The patient needed to know that since he wanted to harm himself I had to document this in his chart and let the doctor know. He nodded his head up and down. I also informed the patient that someone would be contacting an interpreter so the doctor could communicate with him. I spoke to the charge nurse of this situation as well as the primary nurse when he came back from his coffee break. I then documented our conversation in his chart. The patient ended up getting admitted to the hospital for his safety. I can only imagine what would have happened if I was unable to communicate with him. Since critical thinking begins by asking questions about any situation. I will now take this experience and conduct a critical analysis using the “IDEALS” framework from
The primary nurse could call his parents and inform them of what was going on. Perhaps the parents could find out why his friend was no longer calling him. His friend may be ill and in the hospital, or out of town on vacation. I hope the primary nurse did not think I was interfering but merely trying to help. List reasons explicitly I was curious about why he was crying and curious why his primary nurse was not. If I did not know ASL how would we find out what was wrong with the patient? He obviously did not tell his interpreter that morning why he was crying. If this patient was not admitted to the hospital he may have gone home and cut his throat thinking no one cared whether he lived or died. I am glad that curiosity is part of my personality. Self-correct I think I made the right decision in trying to find out what was bothering that patient. I wish I could have got more involved and followed through with the outcome but he was not my patient. Upon reflection I could have called the interpreter immediately when realizing there was a problem. Sometimes this