Personal Philosophy : Personal Teaching Philosophy

Critical thinking is a term you will often here in regards to nursing education and the ability to be a successful nurse. Critical thinking is one of the most important skills of a nurse. Nurses must be able to constantly asses and analyze situations in order to prioritize what is the most important task to accomplish next. This is an ever changing situation in health care and especially in the Intensive Care Units.

It is essential in nursing to continue learning and applying knowledge to the everyday practice. In doing so, it is important to understand how to organize, test, and apply knowledge to nursing. Barbara Carper identified four fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing which are necessary for the teaching and learning of nursing. Carper's four fundamental patterns of knowing in nursing are defined as empirical, ethical, personal and

I see students as the next generations’ heroes in so many fields. In my vision, I have to inspire students and prepare them with confidence, knowledge, experience and skills. Which means I encourage, communicate, guide, teach, and assess students in order to enrich their infrastructures.

Nursing is not just a collection of tasks. To provide safe and effective care to the clients, nurses must integrate knowledge, skills and attitudes to make sound judgement and decisions. This essay describes some of the essential knowledge, skills and attitudes of nursing and discusses why they are essential attributes of a competent nurse.

Critical thinking is a nursing process that includes reflective practice, problem solving and decision making which are connected to one another. The definition of critical thinking is transferring and applying knowledge and skills in a new situation. The critical thinking is needed in a lot of aspects of the nurses’ job such as when the nurses need to provide the precise identification in the specific problems had by the patients. They need to be in detail and also critical to themselves in every time in order to be able to provide identification precisely. When you have the profession in nursing, it is important to be critical thinker. The nurses have the high responsibilities and their responsibilities are increasing from time to time.

Nurses make decisions daily while preparing and conveying care in their scope of practice. Appropriate and efficacious decision-making includes critical thinking. Critical thinking is a major component in the nursing profession as an essential nursing skill. Critical thinking is examining underlying assumptions, interpreting and evaluating arguments, imagining and exploring alternatives, and developing reflective criticism for the purpose of reaching a reasoned, justifiable conclusion (Sullivan, 2013, p. 100). Additionally, it is also the root of problem solving.

Critical thinking used throughout the nation in nursing everyday to protect and treat patients in the most effective way. An example would be if a patient walked in to the hospital with a platelet count of 1, the nurse would know that they have a risk for bleeding and would place them on “risk for bleeding” protocols. Without critical thinking, the nurse would not know what to do. Critical thinking is a learned skill that every nurse should acquire, not only during his or her education, but also throughout his or her career.

Critical thinking is when a person works hard towards the best answer possible. It involves looking at different situations and ways to get to the right solution or answer. When using critical thinking, a person does not give up and settle on their first answer. They use the tools and sources around to collect data and facts to find a path to the right solution. In order to use critical thinking, a nurse or person needs to think rationally. A critical thinker does not just jump right into the answer without any thought to it. For nurses, it is important for them to use critical thinking for safe and effective jobs lives (Papathanasoius, Kleisiaris, Fradelos, Kakou, Kourkouta, 2014). Usually, in the classroom and in learning situations, people think about what they do before they act. However, in some situations, a nursing student does not use critical thinking to solve the problem. For example, a nursing student does not use critical thinking when rushed and in dire need to make a decision. A nursing student will not use critical thinking when asked a question on blood pressure and what the normal blood pressure is because they already learned all the information they need to answer the

I remember when I first became a Licensed Practical Nurse. As I watched the experienced nurses care for their patients, I wanted to think like them. Thinking like a nurse is considered critical thinking. It is perhaps one of the most important qualities that nurses possess. Simply put, critical thinking is actively using knowledge and experience to make a decision (Reilly, 2017). Critical thinking is an important skill because the lives that nurses touch daily depend on his/her ability to use it. Being able to critically think, will allow for early and appropriate intervention in patient’s conditions which can be increasingly complex. Early and appropriate interventions improve patient outcomes (Black, 2017).

“Critical thinking in nursing is an essential component of professional accountability and quality nursing care” (Masters, 2017, p. 217). Nurses apply critical thinking by using their intellectual reasoning to prevent unsafe practice. It allow nurses to study and interpret data appropriately to make a judgement about the patient’s condition or the achievement of a particular outcome. It is important that nurses use critical thinking to coordinate patient care by developing and applying strong clinical skills for a safe, organized environment. I use critical thinking to reflect on implications and consequences of circumstances that may arise during a problem or to understand a patient’s condition better to provide appropriate individual quality of care. Critical thinking also allow me to understand the nursing profession and grasp the ethical aspect of this

……What is critical thinking, critical thinking is -------it helps a nurse --------and all of these steps contribute to good patient outcomes. Anyone is capable of learning and improving critical thinking skills. Critical thinking makes one look at a situation and weighs all possible solutions before coming up with a conclusion. It may require input from different coworkers, for example ------critical thinking helped my priority

Gaberson, K.B; Oremmann, M. H; & Shellenbarger, T. (2015), critical thinking is defined as the mental process of actively and skillfully perception, analysis, synthesis and evaluation of collected information through observation, experience and communication that leads to a decision for action. In nursing education there is frequent reference to critical thinking and to the significance that it has in daily clinical nursing practice. Nursing clinical instructors know that students face difficulties in making decisions related to clinical practice. The main critical thinking skills in which nursing students should be exercised during their studies are critical analysis, introductory and concluding justification, valid conclusion, distinguish

However, it would be unfair not to mention a positive role of nursing educators who are the primary and initial force in the development of critical thinking skills pertinent to exceptional nursing practice. It is them the teachers who as Colln-Appling and Giuliano (2016) state " are responsible for ensuring that the necessary skills for critical thinking among students are developed and maintained" (p.106). Additionally, since the world is facing a nursing shortage, it would be paramount to equip new nurse with the ability to independently, analytically and reflectively think leading to life-saving decisions.

Critical thinking and clinical reasoning are similar in the fact that each term represents a set of methods that guide the nurse to reliable evidence-based practice while delivering care. Critical thinking and clinical reasoning are centered on knowledge base that is associated with the discipline of nursing. With each concept, the nurse must have an existing developed knowledge base in which to apply each concept to. Nurses apply critical thinking and clinical reasoning skills when patient care decisions are made. With both critical thinking and clinical reasoning, information about the patient is collected and examined. They work together to produce clinical judgment. They both direct nursing care to meet patients’ needs resulting in higher quality of care and better patient outcomes.

Identify the 6 elements of a personal teaching philosophy. Then, using the six elements, draft your own personal philosophy of teaching (Look at page 27 and identify the elements of a personal teaching philosophy and then write what you think is important about each of them).