Introduction
Critical thinking is a very wide and important aspect in our society. This is mostly as far as professionalism is concerned. As a matter of fact, it should be known that critical thinking is a disciplined intellectual process that all professionals need to carry out their duties and responsibilities well. In this case, this process should mostly revolve around high-order thinking as time goes by which is good. As far as professionalism is concerned, critical thinking should be able to question various assumptions that might arise. The whole idea should be about a good assessment of various scenarios that a professional will be exposed to. These scenarios can be in form of statements that a given professional is supposed to undertake in relation to his job (Donahue 2010, p. 13). Critical thinking is supposed to evaluate information that has been gathered and this can be by experience or observation which is acceptable. Synthesizing and reflection are also needed to guide the action that a professional will take in relation to critical thinking.
All in all, skillful application of an individual’s experience is needed to give a professional the much-needed impetus for him to accomplish his goals in relation to professional conduct (Davies 2002, p. 23). As a matter of fact, critical thinking is supposed to be a self-regulated process that guides every professional. In this case, it will mostly rely on valuable evidence to come to a good and concrete decision that will satisfy everybody in the field. A good professional who is using critical thinking should base his consideration on evidence to come to a conclusion. There is no professional who can succeed without commitment and this is something that critical thinking enforces. Professionals are supposed to be open and this is a very important need (Radcliffe 2000, p. 27). On the other hand, critical thinking is supposed to give individual professionals alternatives as far as effective decision-making is concerned. In this case, this paper will discuss how critical thinking enhances the professional practice of a registered nurse.
Discussion
A registered nurse is an individual who has fulfilled all the professional requirements as far as nursing is concerned. In this case, they need a lot of skills to carry out their duties well in relation to their nursing jobs. As a matter of fact, critical thinking is very important as a necessary intellectual process that registered nurses need to do their jobs (Buchan 2002, p. 17). Nurses deal with a lot of patients and clients mostly to help them in achieving their health and prevention of diseases. Since they deal with a lot of people, it is quite obvious that critical thinking can help them to enhance their professional practice as registered nurses. Registered nurses have an outline of their practice and this means that there are certain things that they are expected to do as professionals while there are other things that they are not supposed to do (Kym 2010, p. 31). In this case, there are limits as far as their professional conduct is concerned and this can only be enhanced by critical thinking. This means that there are occasions where nurses are called upon to think outside the box.
It is quite obvious that a professional nurse should always learn how to think. In this case, they should always think like a nurse is expected to. Nurses need critical thinking because of the problems that they deal with. This means that critical thinking will be very important in relation to how a registered nurse views a client (Kym 2010, p. 27). Nurses are supposed to be very disciplined and self-regulatory and this is where critical thinking comes in. Somebody can only be disciplined by making good assessments as far as his job is concerned. Critical thinking can enable nurses to make systematic decisions that will be needed every now and then as far as dealing with clients is concerned. Registered nurses are supposed to reevaluate their reasoning process for long-term proficiency. This will mostly ensure that they make a safe nursing process that the profession needs and requires of them. Whenever a registered nurse develops critical thinking, he will be able to conform to the intellectual standards of the profession.
There is a lot of proficiency that can be gained in relation to reasoning and this is where critical thinking comes in. Nurses are supposed to maintain their intellectual traits all the times and this is because of the challenges that they face at their work stations. In this case, they are always called upon to act and respond to various patient needs for long term sustainability (Damer 2005, p. 18). When nurses reason, they will be able to come up with relevant solutions to problems that they might encounter as far as professionalism is concerned. Critical thinking can therefore be used to monitor the action and solution that the nurse will arrive at. It should be known that this process can help a nurse to be accurate and precise in his actions which is needed in the profession (Facione 2007, p. 13). As much as nobody is perfect, nurses are supposed to be accurate because they are dealing with human lives and any slight mistake can be costly in a broad way. A nurse is supposed to think deeply to be logically complete and there is no question about this.
Inaccuracy can be avoided through critical thinking and this will ultimately enhance the professional practice of a nurse. Nurses should be able to eliminate illogical thoughts because of the reasoning that they are supposed to engage in as professionals. In this case, they are supposed to reason widely in relation to client care and this does not recognize being imprecise in any way. It should be known that nurses communicate with language and the language that they will use on clients/patients needs deep thinking. Critical thinkers should be able to reason to given standards and this is aimed at enhancing the quality of their practice (Vincent 2005, p. 26). Over time, a registered nurse will be able to gain experience and this is supposed to do away with any confusion that might come by. Critical thinking can enhance professional in nursing because it is all about enquiries to arrive at the best solution. It is quite obvious that critical thinking in nursing should be guided by the set standards and this is a fact.
Conclusion
The center of professional nursing revolves around proper application of knowledge that is needed for long term sustainability. Nurses should occasionally check if they are on target as far as dealing with patients is concerned. This will enable them to focus on critical points that really matter in their professional conduct which is very important. Decision making is very important because nurses are supposed to reach at important conclusions that have a bearing on a patient’s health and life (Kym 2010, p. 37). This therefore demands a lot of accuracy through good reasoning and thinking that will ultimately enhance an individual’s profession (Hamby 2007, p. 31). Experience will ultimately help a nursing practitioner to horn and harness his problem solving skills as time goes by and this means that they have to think well to achieve this. The concepts of critical thinking are wide and this means that nurses should be on the look out to take advantage of any developments that might ultimately enhance their career and profession. All in all, it is quite obvious that critical thinking enhances the professional practice of a registered nurse.
Reference list
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