A patient on a pediatric unit who underwent an appendectomy for a ruptured appendix 3 days ago complains of acute pain and has a high fever
The nurse is concerned that the patient may have an infection and notifies the primary health care provider of the change in the patient's condition. This concern is based on the nurse's experience as a pediatric nurse. The nurse's ability to make a tentative conclusion regarding this patient's situation based on observed data is known as what? a. Scientific method
b. Clinical inference
c. Effective problem solving
d. Data collection
B
The nurse used clinical inference because of previous experience as a pediatric nurse and pieces of evidence of acute pain and a high fever. Clinical inference is the process of drawing conclusions from related pieces of evidence and previous experience with the evidence. An inference involves forming patterns of information from data before making a nursing diagnosis. The scientific method is one formal way (in this scenario the nurse did not use the formal approach) to approach a problem, plan a solution, test the solution, and come to a conclusion; it is usually used in research. Effective problem solving involves evaluating the solution over time to be sure that it is still effective and if a problem occurs you try different options. Data collection is a component of assessment in the nursing process. In diagnostic reasoning you use patient data that you gather or collect to logically identify a problem. The nurse in this scenario is past data collection and is making a tentative conclusion.
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