Abstract:
It is no secret that a career in nursing requires knowledge of a multitude of diseases and the
processes that go with them. A lesser known truth, though, is that the foundations of nursing are
built on the ideas and application of critical thinking. Critical thinking requires a person to
analyze a situation thoroughly and, with a mix of learned material and intuition, make a decision
as a result. The implication of critical thinking in nursing is especially prevalent in critical care
areas, such as intensive care units and emergency departments. To ensure the best outcomes for
critical patients, these nurses must think critically constantly, while also synthesizing data from
assessments and labs, listening to the patient’s feelings and concerns, and communicating with
other health professionals. In the following case studies, I, the student, am learning to think like a
critical care registered nurse by taking the pieces of patients’ metaphorical puzzles and piecing
them together. Where a layperson may simply see lab values and vital signs, a nurse must see so
much more: deteriorating conditions, adequate disease management, and function improvement,
to name just a few. Synthesis is crucial to nursing, and with the patients in these case studies, I
use their data and my own assessments to get a greater idea of the illnesses they are fighting.
