CLINICAL REASONING- A STUDENT PERSPECTIVE 1

Clinical Reasoning- A Student Perspective

Blake Williams

Brigham Young University-Idaho

NURS 310

Jan. 17 2018
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Introduction

As a first semester nursing student I have been surprised at the difference between

nursing curriculum and the curricula that I have experience in the pre-requisite classes leading up

to nursing school. The pre-requisite classes were mostly based on information. Which

endogenous neurotransmitters binds to beta 1 receptors on the heart? The answer is straight

forward. If you know the information, you will do well in the class. Nursing classes on the other

hand are focused much more on taking the knowledge that we have learned and applying it. Raw

knowledge alone is not of much use to a nurse, a nursing student must learn to process the

information they are given, make connections, and solve problems. For this reason, nursing

courses so far have not been focused as much on what to know and what to think, but on how to

think about what you know.

Clinical Reasoning

Clinical reasoning is the ability to apply critical thinking into a clinical setting. According

to the article A Concept Analysis of Critical Thinking: A Guide for Nurse Educators To think

critically is to have the “ability to apply higher-order cognitive skills… and the disposition to be

deliberate about thinking… that lead to action that is logical and appropriate” (Von Colln-

Appling & Giuliano, 2016). This means that memorizing facts is not good enough for nurses.

Nursing students need to realize that they are going into an occupation where they hold people’s

lives in their hands and in order to provide the necessary care a nurse must have the ability to

think logically, to cluster relevant data, to notice trends, and apply classroom knowledge to

health care. Paraphrasing from our textbook: the nature of nursing practice demands advanced

thinking, so that a nurse can correctly take in huge amounts of information from a patient, think
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through it along with the medical knowledge that the nurse has acquired and make appropriate

decisions (Castaldi, Yoost, & Crawford, 216, p. 56).

Developing Clinical Reasoning

To develop the skill of clinical reasoning one must develop their ability to critically think.

What is critical thinking? “the art of thinking about your thinking while you’re thinking so you

make your thinking more clear, precise, accurate, relevant, consistent, and fair” (Castaldi, Yoost,

& Crawford, 216, p. 56). That is how critical thinking and clinical reasoning is developed, it

takes deliberate, repetitive, effort in order to grow this skill. A nursing student who understands

critical thinking and clinical reasoning knows that the learning is never done because they will

continue to learn and refine their skills throughout their career. With that being said they must

start immediately in practicing this skill so that they can gain the ability to think critically. This

skill will elevate their performance in school, and allow them to have a successful career and

make a positive impact in the lives of their patients.

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Works Cited

Von Colln-Appling, C., & Giuliano, D. (2016, November 15). A concept analysis of critical

thinking: A guide for nurse educators. Retrieved January 17, 2018, from

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0260691716302611

Castaldi, P. A., Yoost, B. L., & Crawford, L. R. (2016). Study guide for Fundamentals of

nursing: active learning for collaborative practice. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Mosby.