Success in nursing practice is achieved when individuals possess first and foremost competence, knowledge, and patient-safe environments. Moreover, becoming a skilled practitioner as a nurse requires opportunities for reflection, whether in or on the action (Hallin, Häggström, Bäckström & Kristiansen, 2016). Problem-solving and reasoning in practical circumstances are conducted in unstructured, open, and ambiguous situations, which can be challenging to resolve, cope, or understand. This paper is an eportfolio presenting a sample case study demonstrating my critical thinking skills in clinical judgment and also a plan for my life-long learning.
Case Scenario
A case scenario that demonstrates my critical thinking involves a situation where I am supposed to take care of patients brought in our healthcare facility's intermediate care unit. All the patients are in critical conditions and require emergency responses from care providers. In order to effectively achieve delivery of care to the patients, I would start my activities and assessments from simple tasks and finalize with the toughest. My first intervention would be to ensure all the patients brought into the intermediate care unit are put to rest in appropriate positions where they feel comfortable. The intervention would ensure all of them rests and prevent those with feelings of dizziness from falling, to avoid further complications. The second intervention would be to conduct first aid exercise to individuals with drastic blood sugar levels and inject the unconscious ones with insulin to raise their blood sugar levels. Among the patients, some have heart-related disorders that would require attention from a specialist. Therefore, I would take their personal details individually and gather additional information that would inform about the root causes of the problem.
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I would implement care by putting the details of all the patients in order and ask for additional help from a registered nurse with more experience because some patients require a specialist. I would inform the specialist urgently of individuals with heart-related conditions. The urgency would prevent any complications that would arise in case any patient is offered the wrong care.
Plan for Life-Long Learning
Life-long learning is related directly to the success of learners in nursing institutions and is an expectation in the professional performance of nurses. My plan is to continue with education as a life-long-learner by having a life-long focus. I understand that there is a wide range of learning opportunities in healthcare that I must utilize to achieve my learning objective. My plan involves keeping an open mind when working with patients and their families, and colleagues in the healthcare profession, all of whom are a source of learning to me. In my field of practice, I will have the opportunity to access educational materials, take courses, and have performance appraisals that will enable me to focus on my development needs. Moreover, my personal life experience, through which I deal with a wide range of people and lots of circumstances and events will contribute significantly to my overall skills and knowledge.
My plan for life-long learning will involve viewing every aspect of my daily work in my entire nursing career as an opportunity to learn, improve, and develop. The best way to achieve the plan will involve learning and practicing the skill of reflection. Reflection will invite me to look back on the most significant events happening in my line of work and describe them, think how they made me feel, assess the bad and good about the experience, analyze the situation to understand its importance and think about how I could have done things differently. Reflection would enable me to think and plan how I would act in case a similar event arises in the future. My plan for life-long learning will involve developing clinical skills. I will spend a lot of time with patients in my role as a member of the healthcare team. I will have the opportunity to effectively observe my patients, monitor their progress, and identify any problems on time.
Reference
Hallin, K., Häggström, M., Bäckström, B., & Kristiansen, L. P. (2016). Correlations between clinical judgment and learning style preferences of nursing students in the simulation room. Global journal of health science , 8(6), 1.
