A nursing manager explains to a group of newly hired graduate ...

[Diane]

A nursing manager explains to a group of newly hired graduate nurses that maintaining situational awareness means
 
  a. being aware of possible problems encountered in patient situations.
  b. remaining aware of patient status and how it can change quickly.
  c. the ability to recover quickly from mistakes once they do occur.
  d. understanding how everyone's role is related to patient outcomes.

Question 2

A student nurse asks how the nursing process is different from critical thinking. The best reply by the faculty member is that the nursing process is
 
  a. a tool for applying critical thinking to patient care.
  b. merely the way nurses articulate patient care needs.
  c. the only way to use critical thinking for best outcomes.
  d. the same thing as critical thinking divided into steps.

[AngeliqueG]

Answer to Question 1

D
The nurse must understand everyone's role in the complex health care situation and how each role contributes to patient outcomes. This also includes understanding how problems can occur related to everyone else's roles.
Being aware of possible problems encountered in patient situations is an important concept for patient safety, but this is not the meaning of situational awareness.
Remaining aware of patient status and how it can change quickly is an important concept for patient safety, but this is not considered situational awareness.
The ability to recover quickly from mistakes when they occur is the concept known as resiliency.

Answer to Question 2

A
The nursing process is the tool nurses use to operationalize their critical thinking judgments about patient care.
Saying that the nursing process is merely the way nurses articulate patient care needs does not differentiate between the two concepts, nor does it show any relationship between them.
Critical thinking can be used in many different ways, including systematically and without the use of the nursing process.
Nursing process and critical thinking, although related, are not synonymous.

[Diane]

TYSM

[mochi09]

Great answer, keep it coming