In order to be a cognitively competent professional, nurses must practice critical thinking and should follow various personal critical thinking indicators (CTIs) such as being honest, autonomous, open-minded, courageous, and health-oriented (Taylor, Lillia, Lynn, & LeMone, 2008, p. 206). As these CTIs suggest, being an independent thinker and avoiding groupthink in the nursing profession is extremely important; therefore, labeling patients or going by the popular opinion about a patient and his or her intentions is a dangerous practice. Without making autonomous assessments of each and every patient and just putting them in a group, nurses put that patient’s health at risk!
That being said, “Millie’s Story” (Ironside, Diekelmann, & Hirschmann, 2005) is a perfect example of the importance …show more content…
However, I once had an amazing encounter with a nurse practitioner who exhibited so much honesty and trust that I learned that it’s worth the risk of being perceived by incompetent healthcare workers as needy in order to be to be more honest about the pain I experience. This encounter occurred after tripping while doing dishes and stepping directly onto a sharp knife, nearly cutting one of my toes off. I was experiencing a lot of pain but I was trying to ignore it, hoping that the injury wasn’t as severe as the huge amount of blood covering the kitchen floor was leading me to believe. Unfortunately, ignoring it did not make it disappear and a few hours later I had my mother bring me to an express care. The amazing nurse practitioner showed me such compassion and gave me a little bit of pain medication and put it six stitches in one toe! After experiencing this competent care, I feel as though I know how to provide effective pain management to patients in the future: by using critical thinking and truly advocating for each and every
That being said, “Millie’s Story” (Ironside, Diekelmann, & Hirschmann, 2005) is a perfect example of the importance …show more content…
However, I once had an amazing encounter with a nurse practitioner who exhibited so much honesty and trust that I learned that it’s worth the risk of being perceived by incompetent healthcare workers as needy in order to be to be more honest about the pain I experience. This encounter occurred after tripping while doing dishes and stepping directly onto a sharp knife, nearly cutting one of my toes off. I was experiencing a lot of pain but I was trying to ignore it, hoping that the injury wasn’t as severe as the huge amount of blood covering the kitchen floor was leading me to believe. Unfortunately, ignoring it did not make it disappear and a few hours later I had my mother bring me to an express care. The amazing nurse practitioner showed me such compassion and gave me a little bit of pain medication and put it six stitches in one toe! After experiencing this competent care, I feel as though I know how to provide effective pain management to patients in the future: by using critical thinking and truly advocating for each and every