The clinical reasoning cycle involves all types of cognitive processes widely used by nurses, clinicians, and health professionals. It majorly focuses on; gathering the cues, processing the information, understanding the problems faced by the patient, creating a plan, getting involved in it, assessing the outcomes, reflecting on the process, and learning from it.

“Save one life, you’re a hero. Save 100 lives, you’re a nurse.”

—Unknown

The concept was first introduced by Tracy-Levett Jones, a nursing professor at Newcastle. Clinical reasoning is highly beneficial for examining a patient’s condition and clinical case. Further, it helps diagnose a problem accurately which is beneficial for choosing an appropriate treatment strategy or plan.

Clinical reasoning skills help healthcare professionals collect correct cues for taking the right action at the most appropriate time and with precise reasons for the correct patient. The entire process empowers them to develop effective clinical reasoning expertise. After all, that’s the best way to boost the chances of an accurate diagnosis of a patient’s condition.

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Simply put, clinical reasoning is nothing but the entire “thought process” employed by healthcare providers. Some of the other popular terms used in place of clinical reasoning are:

• Critical thinking
• Problem-solving
• Decision making
• Clinical judgment

Different Stages In The Clinical Reasoning Cycle

Clinical reasoning cycle nursing skill involves a step-by-step, gradual but thoughtful process. Here are the stages involved in clinical reasoning:

1. Observe the patient and understand the requirements

Initially, you are presented with the details of a clinical case. This includes the current medical condition and status of the patient. All the information about the patient’s medical history is here.

2. Collect all the necessary hints and information.

You should carefully observe the medical history of your patient. There could be several important details such as complaints, currently running treatments, outcomes of the patient’s examination, signs indicating illness, etc.

Next, you are required to evaluate these observational findings as per your knowledge of pathology, physiology, culture, pharmacology, and ethics. It’s the best way to draw accurate information.

3. Process this information to enhance your understanding

In this phase, you finally process all the data related to the patient’s past and current health conditions. This needs to be done concerning pharmacological and pathophysiological patterns. It helps you identify the relevant data to recognize all the possible outcomes.

4. Recognize the problems of the patient

Since you have already processed the data concerning your patient’s medical condition, you are now eligible to identify the reasons behind their current problems. This can be done with a proper diagnosis.

5. Define your goals

It’s important for the nurses to clearly understand what exactly they wish to accomplish, right at the beginning of the clinical reasoning cycle process. It allows them to allot a certain timeframe and follow a specific procedure to reach the outcomes they desire. It helps them come up with the most precise, and relevant solutions quickly.

6. Take the necessary actions to tackle the patient’s problem

It’s time to take the action and work on the treatment goals. This requires teamwork. Thus, each person involved in the treatment must be informed of the current status of the patient as well as the pre-established goals.

7. Analyze the outcomes of your actions

Here, it’s time to evaluate how effective your actions are. As you assess the strengths and weaknesses of your action plan, you can make the necessary alterations timely. Or, if everything seems fine then move along smoothly.

8. Reflect on the process and new learnings

Consider the process you followed and reflect upon everything. Doing this is the best way to boost your clinical reasoning skills. Moreover, it helps you contemplate the new findings on the case.

Further, you can assess how you could improve the outcomes. It also allows you to get an in-depth view and understand the things you can avoid in the future if a similar situation arises.

Most nursing students find it quite challenging to write their clinical reasoning assignments. Since the concepts are new, it is common for learners to mess up or miss out on some important details while writing their papers and lose marks.

In that case, online assignment help experts could save the day with their comprehensive and professional approach. They clearly explain each one of the phases with suitable examples and help you score higher in your medical academic career.

But, what makes clinical reasoning so important?

Let’s find out!

The Significance Of Clinical Reasoning In Nursing

By now you must have understood that clinical reasoning in nursing helps assess whether a patient’s condition will improve or decline. Most importantly, it suggests the correct diagnosis of the problem which is crucial to recommending a suitable treatment strategy. Hence, we can say that a clinician’s incompetent clinical reasoning skills may put a patient at great risk.

A failure in diagnosing a patient’s issue, opting for an appropriate treatment plan, and acting on it; can lead to uncalled for outcomes. All these problems combine collaboratively result in derogated clinical reasoning outcomes. Therefore, it is paramount for healthcare practitioners to develop proper clinical reasoning skills and knowledge. It assures speedy recovery of the patients with the relevant treatment.

Also, Read: Fundamentals of Nursing

Wrapping Up

In the healthcare industry, each individual, from a medical officer to a nurse, must possess strong decision-making skills. The ability to assess a patient’s case and think on the go to offer the best possible treatment plan boosts the quality of medical services. Incorporating the strategies of the clinical reasoning cycle is essentially a smart way to transform patient outcomes positively. Thus, it plays a vital role in nursing training and empowers the learners to develop strong problem-solving abilities over time.

If you find your clinical reasoning cycle assignments frightening, then it’s best to outsource these tasks to an experienced writer. They are adept at crafting meaningful nursing assignments within a tight deadline and help you score better. We hope you found this post insightful!

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