Exam 40: Clinical Judgment

A nurse has designed an individualized nursing care plan for a patient, but the patient is not meeting goals. Further assessment reveals that the patient is not following through on many items. Which action by the nurse would be best for determining the cause of the problem?

A patient has been admitted for a skin graft following third degree burns to the bilateral calves. The plan of care involves 3 days inpatient and 6 months outpatient treatment, to include home care and dressing changes. When should the nurse initiate the educational plan?

A nurse is caring for a patient in a long-term care facility who has not been sleeping well. She notes that the patient is new to the facility, has been refusing therapy, and is also not eating well. The nurse interprets this to mean that the patient has been having trouble adjusting. The nurse decides to meet with the patient's care team. The team decides to assess the patient's willingness to participate in group recreational activities, The patient agrees to participate. After 1 week, the nurse reevaluates the plan of care and notes that the patient has been sleeping much better. Which of the following terms best describe processes used in the nurse's plan? (Select all that apply.)

The nurse is implementing a plan of care for a patient newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus. The plan includes educating the patient about diet choices. The patient states that they enjoy exercising and understand the need to diet; however, they can't see living without chocolate on a daily basis. Using the principles of responding in the Model of Clinical Judgment, how would the nurse proceed with the teaching?

A student nurse is studying clinical judgment theories and is working with Tanner's Model of Clinical Judgment. How can the student nurse best generalize this model?

A home care nurse receives a physician order for a medication that the patient does not want to take because the patient has a history of side effects from this medication. The nurse carefully listens to the patient, considers it in light of the patient's condition, questions its appropriateness, and examines alternative treatments. What is the nurse's best action?

A new graduate nurse is working with an experienced nurse to chart assessment findings. The new nurse notes that the physical therapist wrote on the chart that the patient is lazy and did not want to participate in assigned therapies this AM. The experienced nurse asks the new nurse what may be going on here. What is the best explanation for this statement?

A nurse has committed a serious medication error and has reported the error to the hospital's adverse medication error hotline as well as to the unit manager. The manager is a firm believer in developing critical thinking skills. From this standpoint, what action by the manager would best nurture this ability in the nurse who made the error?

A new nurse appears to be second-guessing herself and is constantly calling on the other nurses to double-check their plan of care or rehearse what they will say to the doctor before she call on the patient's behalf. This seems to be annoying some of the nurse's coworkers. What is the nurse manager's best response?