The Essentials of Clinical Reasoning for Nurses

This exciting new book presents a framework, the OPT Model of Clinical Reasoning, that nurses can use to guide their thinking about patient care. Case scenarios and patient stories demonstrate how to use the model in clinical practice, beginning with assessment and developing a patientcentered plan of care through deciding on interventions and outcomes. Nurse educators will find this book valuable. Effective learning strategies, such as Stop and Think questions and creating a Clinical Reasoning Web, are integrated in each chapter. These and other learning activities guide readers in reflection and using the clinical reasoning process in different patient situations--skills that are transferable to clinical practice. The OPT Model supports learning about and teaching clinical reasoning and care planning to students. With its many clinical examples, this book will be a valuable text for nursing students. -Marilyn H. Oermann, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN Thelma M. Ingles Professor of Nursing Duke University School of Nursing Editor, Nurse Educator and Journal of Nursing Care Quality This book brings clarity and depth to a complex nursing practice-based thinking process too often misrepresented as intuition or insufficiently described as the nursing process. The authors of this book reveal the underside of expert nursing judgment and decision making--systematic yet creative, and championing the patient's story and nursing knowledge and insights--through their eminently teachable OPT Model of Clinical Reasoning for entry-level professional nursing practice. -Pamela G. Reed, PhD, RN, FAAN Professor, The University of Arizona College of Nursing This book challenges nurses to deliberately integrate reflection and specific patient outcomes as they plan and provide care--and offers the OPT Model of Clinical Reasoning as a framework to do that. The model is explained clearly and applied brilliantly to the care of various patient populations, in community settings, and in clinical supervision. Using visuals that repeatedly illustrate application of the OPT Model to various case studies, the book clearly shows the reader how this approach promotes thinking skills of nurses and, ultimately, excellence in care. I highly recommend this book for educators, students, and nurses in practice. -Theresa M. Terry Valiga, EdD, RN, CNE, ANEF, FAAN Professor; Director, Institute for Educational Excellence; Chair, Division of Systems & Analytics Duke University School of Nursing