Critical Thinking

(This image was downloaded from http://markontheworld.wordpress.com/2007/04/ )

Critical thinking is very important to manage the behaviours of residents in nursing homes. There are more than 80% of residents with dementia on my unit. They have a large range of cognitive deficit and display different behavioural problems. Each abnormal behaviour has some causes. For example, when a resident becomes aggressive, we may collect the urine specimen to rule out urinary tract infection and check bowel movement to rule out constipation. Urine tract infection and constipation are two main reasons to cause behavioural problems in nursing homes. Residents with cognitive impairment cannot express their feelings, but they present abnormal behaviours. Simply giving antipsychotic medications is not a professional way to resolve problems. It is nurses’ responsibilities to use critical thinking to discover the causes and implement interventions.