My purpose in pursuing my Bachelors of Science in Nursing (BSN) was to enhance my knowledge of the nursing profession in order to become a more effective nurse and leader in my field. For the past two years I have explored the realms of critical thinking, communication, diversity and therapeutic nursing interventions, working towards these goals. The BSN curriculum has supported these four areas of nursing knowledge and has provided me the opportunity to adopt new skills and resources that will improve my nursing capabilities and expand my horizons into new dimensions of nursing.
Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is an essential skill that I practice daily in my profession and continuing education. The courses in this Bachelor of Science
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The nursing profession revolves around evidenced based practice, and even if I do not go on to do research, possessing the ability to read and review research that has been conducted will continue to develop skills which will help me identify bias, statistics, misleading information and conclusions drawn by the researchers. In so doing I can make my own determinations on the validity of the research and ask the appropriate follow up questions to seek better understanding of evidence based …show more content…
The ability to weigh the pros and cons of a situation along with my moral obligation as health care processionals calls upon critical thinking skills to help me determine, to the best of my ability, the right course of action. The guiding principle of benevolence, malevolence, justice and autonomy are well engrained in my practice and applying these principles to ethical cases such as Donald “Dax” Cowart, who became badly burned and suffered at the hands of medical rehabilitation despite objections and pleas to be allowed to die (Jonsen, Siegler & Windslade, 2007). I also reviewed the case of Karen Quinland, who fell into vegetative state following a drug overdose and was kept on life support despite the fact that she would never regain consciousness (Fine, 2005). Reviewing these ethical cases helped me consider many of the factors that influence patients, families and health care providers. Ethical conundrums will be ever present in my profession and my critical thinking skills will be challenged everyday in my attempts to weigh the positive and negative outcomes my patients and their families may face as well as identify and manage my own feelings in these emotionally charged situations. With this knowledge and experience, I can hopefully help patients and families determine the best course of action