Five experiences in critical care nursing : a synthesis of the nursing process

Nursing combines different components of health care including health history, assessment, pathophysiology, diagnostics, nursing diagnoses, patient safety, research, and medical interventions/treatments. Important to all of these components is critical thinking, as critical thinking allows a nurse to promote safety, prioritize disease management, and intervene when necessary. The following document contains case studies or "experiences" from four days in an intensive care unit (ICU) and one day in an emergency department. Each experience is broken down into different components of nursing and is ended with a critical thinking analysis of the experience.