A new nurse appears to be second-guessing herself and is constantly calling on the other nurses to double-check their plan of care or rehearse what they will say to the doctor before she call on the patient's behalf

Question

This seems to be annoying some of the nurse's coworkers. What is the nurse manager's best response?
a. Explain to coworkers that this is a characteristic of critical thinking and is important for the new nurse to improve reasoning skills.
b. Agree with the staff and have someone follow and work more closely with a preceptor.
c. Have a talk with the nurse and suggest asking fewer questions.
d. Tell the staff that all new nurses go through this phase, and ignore their behavior.

Answer 1

ANS: A
Reflection-on-action is critical for development of knowledge and improvement in reasoning. It is where learning from practice is incorporated into experience. Inquisitiveness is a characteristic of critical thinking and reflects a desire to learn even when the knowledge may not appear readily useful. The manager should promote this. Suggesting the nurse work more closely with a preceptor implies that the manager thinks the nurse needs to learn more and increase confidence. In reality, this nurse is demonstrating a characteristic of critical thinking. Suggesting that the nurse ask fewer questions would hamper the development of the nurse as a critical thinker. All new nurses do go through a phase of asking more questions at one time, but dismissing the nurse's behavior with this explanation is simplistic and will discourage critical thinking.