Instructor Worksheet—Connecting Words to Spark Critical Thinking
Following each of these patient statements, what question(s) should you consider?
(Instructor notes: What you want the nurse to consider.)
1. Patient states that he or she has had no pain relief after the medication you gave him or her.
(Instructor note: Why is there no pain relief?)
2. Blood pressure unchanged, remains systolic over 175.
(Instructor note: Why is the systolic still high?)
3. Patient returns to ED for a dressing change. He is concerned that it does not look any better than he did three days ago when he arrived.
(Instructor note: Did you expect the wound to look different today?)
4. Family brings in a patient, concerned that they are drowsy today.
(Instructor note: Compared to what? Why is there a neurological change? What do the words “more drowsy” mean to the rest of the team?)
5. Patient complaining of “not feeling good.”
(Instructor note: What do these words mean? How can you get the patient to better define their symptoms/concerns?)
6. Patient shares with you they want to see a different doctor today, not the one they saw in the ED yesterday.
(Instructor note: What are some reasons a patient may request this? Is it relevant to making a triage decision?)
7. Patient shares, “The other nurse that was in here told me my blood pressure was okay. Then why does this machine keep alarming?”
(Instructor note: Prompt discussion related to responding to interventions, care, etc. given by someone other than yourself.)
8. Family shares that the other person that was in here “stuck my mother three times, and I don’t want them back in this room.”
(Instructor note: Discuss options when you discover that another member of team is not following protocol/policy.)
Critical Thinking in the Emergency Department, Second Edition
Copyright HCPro, 2017.