Nursing practice is a sophisticated endeavor, which presupposes taking into account various facts related to the situation in order to make a quality judgment. The abovementioned process is also referred to as “critical thinking.” The ability to consider the situation from more than one perspective is crucial in terms of nursing, as nurses serve as intermediators between the patients and practitioners. Thus, in order to secure efficient cooperation and treatment for positive patient outcomes, medical professionals have to understand the situation through the prism of both patient’s perception and impersonal medical judgment. Moreover, during communication with patients, nurses who employ critical thinking are able to convey the information crucial for the treatment process in such a way that the patient would understand the value of any procedure. It is achieved through the nurse’s ability to judge the information from the point of view of a person not related to the medical field.
Another important skill required for the nursing practice is the ability to apply theoretical knowledge to practice in order to secure the best result. Thus, it is necessary to pay enough attention to the empirical data present in the field. The process of analyzing such information is known as an evidence-based practice. According to the researchers, evidence-based practice is primarily aimed at minimizing the gap between the theoretical basis and practical application (Mackey & Bassendowski, 2017). Indeed, extended knowledge in nursing is of crucial importance because nurses frequently face situations when one detail in the patient’s history might become an obstacle for applying theoretical knowledge to a particular setting. Thus, the nurses’ evidence-based approach is explicitly correlated with the patient outcome and treatment success.
Reference
Mackey, A., & Bassendowski, S. (2017). The history of evidence-based practice in nursing education and practice. Journal of Professional Nursing, 33(1), 51-55. Web.