Analysis as a Critical Thinking Skill

Nursing has many highly technical aspects but a nurse is more than a simple technician. A nurse must not only perform technical procedures and implement the last diagnostic and treatment tools, but the nurse must also be capable of interacting with the patient as a human being and be capable of both communicating clearly to a patient but thinking about and understanding the patient's perspective (even in terms of cross-cultural differences) and comprehending their behaviors in the correct context. As such a successful nurse must cultivate critical thinking skills. While there are a number of these skills and all are appropriately relevant, being able to analyze a situation is one that I have found important in my career path.

When dealing with a complex issue analyzing the situation provides one of the initial steps in handling a task such as writing a major research paper or teaching a staff workshop. Tasks can appear overwhelming in their entirety. Right after I ensure that I fully understand the scope and requirements to complete the task successfully, I try to break it down into smaller bite size portions. By thinking through the different components of the task, developing a plan to finish the task in a timely manner becomes much easier. For example, given a presentation, I would analyze what the goal is; what information should be transmitted to consider teaching to a success. Next I would analyze the audience. I would ask questions such as:

What is the make-up of the class?

Are they peers, superiors, students, strangers, co-workers etc.?

What tools are available and suitable to teach this class?

I would consider if a lecture, a round table talk or a multimedia presentation going to give me the most bang for my buck. For example, today many classes overly rely on the use of Microsoft Power Point, which negates audience participation and is limited for communicating complex ideas. If I was trying to introduce a new nursing protocol to address certain legal liabilities, then a one way communication, such as a slide show might work since the topic is very black and white. But in teaching a complex topic such as improving a nursing student's professional demeanor and interacting with difficult patients, then a two way channel would be needed so I could adjust my teaching to fit each student's needs. All these intricacies would be overlooked, and often are if a nursing professional is unwilling to analyze the situation fully.

I would describe my thinking process to a new nursing student as this: By taking a breath, looking at the situation for a moment and breaking it into bite sized tasks, the most difficult manager, situation or patient can be handled professionally. The situation is what it is. That cannot be helped. However, when confronted with many tasks, or a set of symptoms that do not readily make sense, sometimes a level of frantic energy can kick in that does not particularly help. More than a professional observation, research has shown that many new nurses have trouble thinking critically when in stressful situations (Kaddoura, 2010). The consequences of not being able to think clearly when assigned to an ICU or a NICU during a crisis are unacceptable and a new nurse must learn to be able care for the patient by addressing the most important thing first without getting flustered or overwhelmed.

This ability to analyze a situation is not important just for looking at immediate complex clinical issues critically, but also for addressing situations that just seem overwhelming. Imagine if the nurse found themselves working for an extremely difficult physician or a long term, ill-tempered patient. This person makes the nurse dread going to work and when they go home they head straight for the beer in the fridge. This kind of chronic stress can be just as overwhelming and harmful to my abilities as a short term one. I would analyze the situation. What is it really? I would try to honestly see how much of the situation is real, versus how much am I making worse from my own anxiety. This skill is important for being able put on a professional demeanor and being able to being empathetic towards a patient but also remaining detached and able to evaluate the data I am seeing more fully so that situations can be addressed when they are small instead of full blown crises.

All patients deserve the best care that I can provide and without being able to analyze difficult situations, my abilities would be compromised. As such all critical thinking skills are important for myself and all nursing professionals, however analyzing is one of the first steps and if that goes wrong than many other critical thinking skills may not work. Being able to address a complex or stressful situation is crucial both for the good of the patient and the nurse's career and emotional health.

Reference

Kaddoura, Mahmoud A.( Sept 2010). Effect of the essentials of critical care orientation (ECCO) program on the development of nurses' critical thinking skills. The Journal of Continuing Education in Nursing, 41(9), 424-432.