Nursing Program Outcomes Report
Critical thinking is the skillful process of actively conceptualizing, analyzing, and evaluating information gathered from sources, or generated by ones self through observation, experience, reflection, or communication, as a guide to belief and action. I have emerged as a critical thinker in the field of nursing. I am a trained nurse by profession and through my education and experience, I always try to be clear, precise, and open in my reasoning so that I can offer the best services to all my patients. This helps me to fully understand the problems facing my patients. In addition, I am also able to extract the necessary information from patients, resulting in a clear understanding of their problems. In nursing, thinking is a form of evidence-based practice. It is from the evidence provided by the patient that a nurse can be able to conceptualize a problem and link it to the related possible solutions. For example, as a nurse, I should be able to know the problem of a patient through the information they give me regarding how they feel, how they live, and how they relate to different people in their . After getting all this information, I should also try to link and evaluate it until I arrive at a single problem, which can then be dealt with. In the same way, a patient may be suffering from depression and since they do no background in medicine, they just complain of headaches, lack of appetite, or lack of sleep. However, as a nurse, I should be able to critically link all these symptoms and arrive at the conclusion that the person is depressed (Anema & McCoy, 2010).
Communicating Effectively
Communication involves the passing and receiving of information between two or more parties. In nursing, communication involves a nurse, the patient, relatives to the patients, and other members of the nursing staff. At first, it seems difficult to achieve effective communication in the field of nursing. It has taken me a lot of patience and confidence to become an effective communicator in my profession. In nursing, there is always a great deal of information to be passed on to others within a very short time. As a nurse, I am always required to from a patient or their relatives whenever the patient is completely unable to express themselves. To get the correct information, one thing that I have found very essential is to be friendly. This helps the patients to relax and have the courage to give all information about their health. Effective communication earns nurses the trust of their patients. After getting all the information from patients, clarity is needed. No matter how sure I may be as a nurse, it is always wise to consult with my fellow nurses (Basford & Slevin, 2003). This helps one to be concrete sure. Sometimes conflicts among co-workers can arise and it is during these times that I have been able to consult my educational background as well as past experiences in arguing for the right direction to take.
Understanding Context
In nursing, context understanding calls on all nurses to be able to figure out the major situations which fall under the bracket of medical care for nurses. As a nurse, I have been able to identify the core factors and situations that require my knowledge. This helps me to provide quality improvement and safety to my patients and me as well. For example, I have been able to acknowledge myself as a medical practitioner and the work that I am entitled to. This has given me that inner evaluation skill that enables me to perform my duties as expected. I have been able to understand that nursing involves interacting with other medical practitioners, sharing and evaluating medical information, and offering the best and safest services to patients. It involves medical, psychological, and social care for the general well-being of the patients. Thus, nursing has taught me to always be ready and committed to offering care to patients to the best of my capability. For example, I am now able to as well as advice to patients concerning their way of living. I am also in a position to offer quality medical care to them.
Appreciating Aesthetics
Aesthetics are often referred to as the art of nursing. It is through Aesthetics knowledge that nurses can offer compassion and maximum care to their patients. This leads to faster recovery. In nursing, aesthetic knowledge involves an embodied grasp of situations and intimate experiences with the deepest and most significant life events that are associated with joy, pain, and sorrow. As a nurse, I have acquired the knowledge of being able to offer the best and most appropriate services which enable patients to appreciate regain their health. For example, as a nurse, I have learned to understand common human experiences which affect many patients. Some of these experiences may result in self-loathing. It is in such situations that I have been able to offer my compassion, care, and concern to such people to show them how important every human being is. On many occasions, this has led to many patients appreciating themselves and all that they possess. Thus, nursing requires the use of aesthetic knowledge, which leads to . Many are times when patients tend to lose hope regarding their health and end up wishing they were dead. During these times, I am supposed to do all I can to restore hope to such patients. This involves trying to bring light to them about their other capabilities which can lead to better health.
Defining Personal Identity
Ideally, each one of us should have his/her own identity. One thing that nursing has taught me is that I do have a personal identity. The knowledge that I have so far acquired makes me be identified as a nurse. It is through the activities that people perform that we can identify who they may be. Apart from other people being able to identify you, you also need to identify yourself by feeling and expressing the capability in you. As a nurse, I know how much I can perform in my field of training. Thus, I can identify my professionalism and apply it to help improve the condition of my patients and myself as well (Gantz & Sigma Theta Tau International, 2010). As a nurse, I have been able to collect information about a certain condition, evaluate and analyze it, to come up with the best treatment for the condition. Whenever I do this, I am always sure of my actions on account of my educational background, and experience. I also identify myself as a leader since I know that there are people who depend on my actions for the quality improvement of their health. This shows that I can give orders to others to help them transform their lives for the better and more so their health. Thus, I can identify myself as a leader, and a trained, professional nurse. Other people who receive my services are also able to identify me as a nurse.
Examining Values
Different people have different values. One person will tend to value something over another. Values are mostly associated with an individual belief. In the nursing fraternity, the cultural values and beliefs of different cultures are not given much attention. This is because some of those will tend to go against ethical health values. Thus, nursing as a profession has its values and beliefs which are directed to rendering quality services to all patients. As a nurse, I am bound to make the nursing professional beliefs and values part of me to enjoy my profession and be able to perform excellently (Gantz, & Sigma Theta Tau International, 2010). In the health care profession, human life is of great value and all efforts must be made to save it. Thus, I am bound to value human life as a nurse and be at the forefront as a professional nurse to defend and protect it. This requires me to use my knowledge to ensure that all life situations placed at my hands are well cared for. This makes it clear that as a nurse by profession the very first trait that I should have is, value for human life (Basford & Slevin, 2003).
Adapting and Innovating
Adapting involves adopting things that one was not used to before. In nursing, there are many things that nurses are bound to adapt to. As a nurse, I have adapted to using patient care technologies, information systems, and communication devices that . This has been achieved through, the quality training that we as nurses experience. Many are the situations that face nurses and force them to make some changes in their way of doing things. For example, some patients may be so sick, such that they require constant attention for some time. It is thus my duty as a nurse to sacrifice my time even if it means working for extra hours to ensure that, such a patient has been helped to the required extent. Nursing also requires innovation. It is not always satisfying to do routine things throughout. Time and time again nurses are required to be innovative, in that, when one strategy seems not to be working another one can be adopted and tried out. This calls for knowledge and belief that different things are possible, and can be used to achieve the same intended purpose (Anema & McCoy, 2010). Thus, I constantly have to upgrade my knowledge through further education and research.
