Example of how Critical Thinking In Nursing would apply to trauma-informed care
It is a normal day on the job for you as a nurse. A young man, a patient, comes in complaining of sleeplessness and headaches. As a healthcare worker, you need to require tests for him but find nothing wrong. You prescribe him a few sleeping pills but that does not do the trick. He comes in a week later complaining of the same problems.
Then, you start thinking that maybe his problem is not physical. It may be mental which is causing his physical ailments.
Now you must start talking to him, asking for his history, and in the middle of the conversation, he bursts into tears and tells you that he has been depressed for years because he was neglected as a child. You have now been informed of his trauma. This means that you now have the power to treat him keeping trauma-informed care in mind and using your critical thinking in nursing.
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Trauma-informed care is a method in the healthcare industry that makes a point of a person who is more likely than not going to have experienced trauma in the past. Therefore, this helps recognize the presence of trauma symptoms and the impact that this may have on a person’s life.
It’s critical to consider how the various healthcare services handle people who have experienced trauma. A person who has suffered trauma should be able to feel safe and trusted thanks to the trauma-informed treatment method.
Despite nurse ethics requiring them to treat every patient equally and without judgment, it is a talent that is neglected by healthcare organizations and professionals. This is included for those patients who lived with complex trauma and it should be part of the nursing education system. The trauma-informed care method upholds nursing ethics and protects human rights.
It encourages a welcoming and inclusive environment in patient communication and healthcare systems that denies explicit or unconscious bias against patients, regardless of their circumstances or outward appearance.
There are different types of stress – good stress and bad stress.
Potential Forms Of Trauma Stress Include: –
Below are 4 types of forms of trauma stress where TIC guides healthcare professionals and organizations in understanding the degree of trauma in the victim; it involves a lot of critical thinking in nursing.
It also helps in supporting and accepting victims of trauma through healing and positive adaptation. It recognizes the symptoms and signs of traumatic stress and acknowledges the role that trauma may play in a patient’s life.
1. Chronic stress:
This occurs when continuous trauma has been persisting over an extended period.
2. Toxic stress:
Toxic stress can occur in children who experience frequent, strong, and/or prolonged adversity. A few examples of this are emotional or physical abuse, caregiver substance abuse or mental illness, chronic neglect, or accumulated burdens of family economic hardship without adequate adult support.
3. Stress associated with complex trauma:
A child can be exposed to multiple traumatic events which are often of an interpersonal or invasive nature. For instance, there is sexual abuse or domestic violence which often produce long–term, wide-ranging effects.
4. Trauma coercive bonding:
The results when the fear is overwhelming and the person finds no opportunity to escape. This is the biggest example of this is human trafficking.
The 6 Key Principles Of Trauma Informed Care Include: –
Here are the 6 key principles of trauma-informed care, which treat patients’ medical requirements while taking into account any trauma they may have had.
1. Safety:
This refers to the psychological and physical safety of patients and their family members which is created by providers within the healthcare organizations to prevent traumatization. Making the environment a safe space promotes access to multiple services and fosters engagement between nurses and their patients.
The planning of safety for patients and their family members is normally a nursing responsibility, while it requires a lot of critical thinking in nursing and all the staff.
A major factor of TIC is environmental safety. The requires healthcare professionals to ensure that all of the accommodations are safe and welcoming for all of the patients, regardless of their age, sex, race, status, or identity. Patients who have undergone trauma are often hypervigilant about their surroundings.
2. Trustworthiness and transparency:
Transparency, that goes on to foster trust is based on the principles of anticipatory guidance. The minimal additional time required to develop transparency in the patient-nurse relationship builds trustworthiness and encourages patients to participate in their care.
There are interpersonal skills in nursing. Nurses who share their laptop screens with patients, and help them control the information in their health records.
Most of the time, patients want the information of some traumatic event removed that is not associated with their current medical treatment. Therefore requires frank conversations about organizational capacities and the choices available to the patient in the community and the hospital.
Trust needs the healthcare professionals to know that the patients are in the best position to understand the options in front of them at any time.
3. Peer support:
It is based on the tenet that people don’t need to be “fixed,” they just need assistance in developing their inner strength. As a result, doing this would be a terrific approach to introducing them to encouraging peer services in different groups that share their cultural, religious, or experiential views. Other trauma survivors participate in peer support groups for trauma survivors.
They advocate voice and choice. Effective peer support for trauma survivors builds on mutual exchange and shared experiences that establish new methods. So this would be a perfect understanding of the reactions to trauma and experiences.
4. Collaboration and mutual support:
In TIC, this requires all institutional staff and healthcare providers to view patients as experts in their lived experiences and active partners in their care. Nurses support and share the goals which have been prioritized by the patient as they create a plan of care and discharge.
Critical thinking in nurses is needed. The healthcare team provides recommendations after working together, and the patients ultimately decide after understanding their capabilities and limitations. Hence that’s why having a good understanding of the patient’s environment helps healthcare teams offer reasonable choices and avoid judgment.
5. Cultural and historical sensitivity:
This consists of all aspects of the identity of a person. It includes ethnicity, race, sexual orientation, religion, gender as well as interpersonal relationships which begin with the family of origin.
Therefore, patients who bring personal experiences and traumas to the nurse-patient relationship, so that’s why nurses need to be mindful of, as it is an essential skill in nursing while tending to the patients.
6. Empowerment of voice and choice:
Finally, this is the foundation of TIC. It empowers the patient by respecting their choices and giving them a voice. Therefore it develops their health literacy by addressing their strengths and building on their weaknesses.
Quality nursing begins with respecting and valuing the person seeking care. It is an essential nursing skill. By using these principles as well as the core competencies, ethics, and values, nurses own the potential to deliver and implement TIC in a holistic and supportive environment. Also the leads to patients thriving and eventually flourishing in their quests for higher levels of wellness.
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Top 5 ways nurses can improve critical thinking skills: –
There are 5 approaches for nurses to think and actions that enhance their critical thinking skills.
1. Care-Based Approach
When someone supports teaching critical thinking skills via a care-based approach. They encourage their students to ask questions about the situation that will help them decide the knowledge they have and the information they need.
Forming a group and working with a mentor who can lead you through case studies are two things to think about. Although this gives you access to a learner-centred environment where you may review data to learn and improve your teamwork, communication, and analytical abilities.
2. Practice Self-Reflection
By practicing self-reflection, you can observe, evaluate, and decide how to react to different situations. Hence, this provides the chance to identify any errors you may have made and create new behavioural patterns that may aid in your ability to make wise selections that you would carry out.
For instance, you could replay an argument or tense meeting in your brain later and consider several ways you might have responded.
3. Develop a Questioning Mind
When you go through a planned process of learning tactics and applying them frequently enough for them to become habits to develop critical thinking skills. One of those methods is to train your mind to ask questions. Critical thinking is centered on asking meaningful questions that give practical solutions.
Therefore, you need to gain the ability to ask intelligent inquiries. It can be challenging to do more than finish the task at hand if you are dealing with staff and nurse shortages. Also, declining patient conditions, and an increase in the number of chores that need to be done. Some questions promote active learning, let you see the world differently, and teach your brain not to take anything for granted.
In a calm, stress-free setting, it is simpler to practice asking questions until it becomes second nature. When you are prepared to handle the situation when it happens and the treatment of your patient rests on your ability to ask the appropriate inquiry.
4. Practise Self-Awareness in the Moment
Self-awareness and being in the present moment are necessary for critical thinking in nursing. Therefore, it is simple to lose concentration during a busy shift as you struggle to complete every activity required for your patients.
Especially when maintaining your focus and stress management as a nurse may be impacted by giving medications and altering bandages. It even can be hanging injection lines while attempting to evaluate your patient’s mental and emotional state.
Being mindful of the moment enables you to look ahead and be proactive. For instance by packing additional fluid for a procedure or extra gloves for a dressing change. You are also better able to engage in active listening if you remain in the moment.
As a result, your assessment abilities improve and you have more data on which to base your treatments and conclusions.
5. Use a Process
When improving critical thinking abilities, it can be beneficial to follow a process. For example, asking questions, gathering data, putting a plan into action, assessing the outcomes, and taking into account alternative viewpoints.
These are the basic nursing process processes, along with assessing, diagnosing, planning, and evaluation.
The final part will assist you in resolving a typical issue with nursing critical thinking skills.
Books to help you improve your critical thinking skills: –
Here are a couple of books that you can help develop your critical thinking skills by:
1. The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
Author: Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D
Rating Stars: 4.8 out of 5
Purchase from: Amazon, Waterstone & Audible
2. Critical Thinking: A Beginner’s Guide to Critical Thinking, Better Decision Making, and Problem Solving
Author: Jennifer Wilson
Rating Stars: 3.6 out of 5
Purchase from: Amazon
3. Think Smarter: Critical Thinking to Improve Problem–Solving and Decision–Making Skills
Author: Michael Kallet
Rating Stars: 4.6 out of 5
Purchase from: Amazon, Waterstone & Audible
Overall, knowing how to provide treatment that is informed by trauma is essential for nurses. It will assist you in developing these interpersonal skills for your nursing career. Finally, you should try to put it into practice with your patients.
As you two support one another, the patient will receive the greatest care possible. Never let the trauma affect your decisions or the patient’s course of care; instead, let it make you feel compassion and respect for them.
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