Nursing

LEARNING KEY SKILLS IN NURSING MANAGEMENT history by the time they reach you, and attempts may have been made to resolve them over a period of time. “We tried this before and it didn’t work” is often said and may apply—or more likely, may not apply—in a changed situation. Past experience may not always supply […]

Consider how long the situation has been going on. Because no amount of information is ever complete or comprehensive enough, critical- thinking skills, discussed earlier, help the manager examine the assumptions, evidence, and potential value conflicts. 4. Develop solutions. As an individual or a group analyzes information, numerous possible solutions will suggest themselves. Do not

Analyze the information. Analyze the information only when all of it has been sorted into some orderly arrangement as follows: • Categorize information in order of reliability. • List information from most important to least important. • Set information into a time sequence. What happened first? Next? What came before what? What were the concurrent

THINKING CRITICALLY, MAKING DECISIONS, SOLVING PROBLEMS 111 Premature interpretation can alter one’s ability to deal with facts objectively. For example, are there other explanations for the apparent behavior that do not entail negative assumptions about the maturity of the staff? Accurate assessment of the scope of the problem also determines whether the manager needs to

Steps in Problem Solving 1. Define the problem. 2. Gather information. 3. Analyze the information. 4. Develop solutions. 5. Make a decision. 6. Implement the decision. 7. Evaluate the solution. Place Your Order Here!

LEARNING KEY SKILLS IN NURSING MANAGEMENT Still other problem-solving techniques rely on past experience and intuition. Everyone has various and countless experiences. Individuals build a repertoire of these experiences and base future actions on what they considered successful solutions in the past. If a particular course of action consistently resulted in positive outcomes, the person

THINKING CRITICALLY, MAKING DECISIONS, SOLVING PROBLEMS 109 encouraged to improve on each other’s ideas. These sessions are enjoyable but are often unsuc- cessful because members inevitably begin to critique ideas, and as a result, meetings shift to the ordinary interacting group format. Criticisms of this approach are the high cost factor, the time consumed, and

LEARNING KEY SKILLS IN NURSING MANAGEMENT charts, or cause-and-effect diagrams. Figure 8-3 illustrates a cause-and-effect diagram that a team of nurses created to help them improve the documentation process for their ambulatory oncology unit. Another example of a decision tool is the Dynamic Network Analysis Decision Support (DyNADS) project at the University of Arizona College

List all possible courses of action Seek alternatives: List all possible courses of action. Is one alternative more significant than another? Does one alternative have weaknesses in some areas? Can these be overcome? Can two alternatives or features of many alternatives be combined? 5. Test alternatives: First, using the same methodology as in step 3,

Steps in Decision Making 1. Identify the purpose: Why is a decision necessary? What needs to be determined? State the issue in the broadest possible terms. 2. Set the criteria: What needs to be achieved, preserved, and avoided by whatever decision is made? The answers to these questions are the standards by which solutions will