Chapter 10 Critical Thinking

A nurse assesses a client who reports his pain as a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. The client refuses anymedicine for the pain; however, the nurse observes he is grimacing and holding his abdomen tightly.His blood pressure and pulse are elevated and his wife has stated: “He needs help.” The nurse’snext best action would be to
:a. Assess cultural health care beliefs about pain
.b. Give him the medicine for pain although he does not want it
.c. Leave the room and let him rest
.d. Call the doctor to come and examine the client immediately.

In the emergency room, the nurse observes that a client is actively bleeding from an abdominal gunshotwound. The nurse assumes that the client is at an increased risk for hypovolemic shock. The nursebases her viewpoint after viewing the outpouring of frank, red bleeding and reasoning that shock mayoccur if fluids or blood is not replaced. This is an example of
:a. Inductive reasoning
.b. Critical analysis.
c. Creativity.
d. Deductive reasoning.

When applying critical thinking to the assessment phase of the nursing process, the nurse will
:a. Ask only open-ended questions
.b. Continue to clarify with the client what the nurse has planned.
c. Keep goals for the client in mind while interviewing the client
.d. Ask culturally sensitive questions.