A patient is admitted to a skilled nursing facility with a closed head injury. The nurse believes that the patient has been pocketing food in his cheeks during the noon meal although she has not found any food pocketed

Question

The nurse refers the patient to the speech therapist for a swallowing evaluation. The nurse is using which critical thinking component in making this decision?
a.
Inference
b.
Deductive reasoning
c.
Intuition
d.
Inductive reasoning

Answer 1

ANS: C
Intuition is the feeling that you know something without specific evidence. Inferences are intellectual acts that involve a conclusion being made on the basis of something. The accuracy of an inference is directly related to the accuracy of what the inference is based on. Deductive reasoning involves generating facts or details from a major theory, generalization, or premise (i.e., from general to specific). Inductive reasoning uses specific facts or details to make conclusions and generalizations; it proceeds from specific to general.