Critical Thinking and Nursing Concept Maps

For nurses to make good decisions that impacts  the lives of patients, they need to have appropriate and efficient thinking together with the abilities to solve problems. Critical thinking will help them improve safety and also the quality of nursing care. There has been an increasing emphasis on quality of the care provided by nurses, and without critical and appropriate thinking, it will be difficult for the nurses to ensure quality (Sinatra-Wilhelm, 2012). Nurses can use either the nursing care plan or concept maps to improve there thinking.

The nursing care plan is the method by which nurses use to identify the existing needs of the patients correctly. Nurses also use this method to identify potential risks and needs that patients might have (Atay & Karabacak, 2012). With the nursing care plans, nurses can communicate among themselves, with their patients and also with other medical practitioners so as they all can achieve high quality in health care provisions (Sinatra-Wilhelm, 2012). Nursing care plans play a significant role in making sure that nurses achieve consistency in their quality. Without the plans, there will be variance in the quality offered by the nurses.

On the other hand, nursing concept maps allow the nurses to prioritize their ideas; it gives them a chance to evaluate consensus, identify the gaps within the nursing duties and create an improved action plan towards filling up the identified deficiency (Atay & Karabacak, 2012). The nursing concept map is critical in helping the nurse to formulate his or her best care plan by evaluating and rating the possible complications that the patient might have.

In my opinion, nursing concept maps provide the nurse with the best critical thinking to adequately take care of the patient. This is because it allows the various stakeholders in the health sector to come together to formulate dynamic concept maps, a map that is evaluated by qualified individuals in the nursing sector will be thoroughly assessed, and proper and efficient thinking will be instilled in the nurse while using it.

References

Atay, S., & Karabacak, Ü. (2012). Care plans using concept maps and their effects on the critical thinking dispositions of nursing students. International Journal Of Nursing Practice, 18(3), 233-239. doi: 10.1111/j.1440-172x.2012.02034.x

Sinatra-Wilhelm, T. (2012). Nursing Care Plans Versus Concept Maps in the Enhancement of Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing Students Enrolled in a Baccalaureate Nursing Program. Creative Nursing, 18(2), 78-84. doi: 10.1891/1078-4535.18.2.78