Learning to Think Like a Nurse, Essay Example

This article is significant to nursing practice development because it focuses on teaching nursing students how to be practitioners of the trade who, are aware of and, are equipped with the knowledge to make good decisions and take care of patients effectively. This means being quick thinkers and observant to be able to recognize when patients need assistance, by noticing when they may be in distress when symptoms occur that mean their lives are in danger. These types of clinical judgments are essential to ensuring patient safety and good medical outcomes. There are times when nurses may need to be even quicker to think than doctors. This is a tall order and something that carries a heavy weight of responsibility for a new nurse. The article refers to the thoughts of one new nurse who reflects on the overwhelming responsibility of having the patients’ lives in her hands at the young age of 22 and states she doesn’t have enough experience yet to answer the questions that she has in her head every day (Etheridge, 2007, p. 24). This goes to show that nursing school is not where nurses learn how to think in a complex fashion to be able to solve everyday problems that arise in the real world of nursing. Things can come up quickly and sometimes this means that nurses need to make split-second decisions. The article states that new nurses need to develop the confidence to make good clinical judgments on the job. I think this is important and additional learning experiences that would be most helpful to me, as new nurse, is to be actively involved in experiences with patients on the job by shadowing more experienced nurses and asking questions, as well as taking copious notes and referring back to them when faced with tough decisions. Asking for clarification before-hand, if possible is important as well. It is also a good idea to study the notes on a regular basis and continue studying academically, even after nursing school. Also, case scenarios are a good to study as well.