Abstract:
Adult Health 4, a critical care nursing class, is a vital piece in the transition from nursing student
to registered nurse. The course brings together knowledge from previous nursing courses and
applies it to a critically ill patient with multisystem crises. The complexity of critically ill
patients requires critical thinking, clinical judgement, and clinical decision-making skills which
are all put into practice throughout time spent on intensive care units. Nursing students must be
able to apply their critical thinking skills to develop a plan of care that promotes improved
patient outcomes. This thesis contains five patient case studies based off five clinical days spent
on different intensive care units. Each case study contains a patient history, course of illness,
pathophysiology, assessments, nutrition, diagnostics, nursing diagnoses/interventions, drugs/IV
solutions, medical interventions, patient safety and quality, and an interpretation, analysis, and
synthesis. Every component contributes to the overall view or status of the patient, and the
critical thinking that was applied.
