Critical thinking & Application Allied Healthcare: Critical Thinking and Application Critical thinking & Application Allied Healthcare

Sharpening your Critical Thinking Skills As a member of a medical team, sharpening your critical thinking skills is essential. What exactly does this mean? It is essential that you can make connections between a variety of facts and information, and use your knowledge base to make informed decisions.

A Critical Thinker: adapted from Ferrett, S. Peak Performance (1997). asks relevant questions assesses facts and examine situations carefully admits a lack of understanding and seek assistance defines a set of standards for analyzing information listens carefully to others and give appropriate feedback defers drawing conclusions until all facts have been gathered and well-thought-out disallows information that is incorrect or irrelevant is able to solve problems by applying facts to actual situations adapted from Ferrett, S. Peak Performance (1997).

Graphics and Visuals Graphics and visuals are extremely important in the healthcare fields. Whether you take an anatomy or pharmaceutical class, you are going to find some sort of graphic in your textbook and your instructors are going to expect that you can use this information. Additionally, certification exams will require your understanding charts, figures, or diagrams.  

VISUALS ARE MEMORY AIDES As visual learners, diagrams and charts help us to better understand and apply information. Graphics are often more important than the paragraphs that surround them. Graphics most often: Condense pages of detailed information which can be organized into a clear chart or map. Clarify processes and relationships which can be more clearly understood visually than through pages of written information. Provide excellent study tools.

APPLICATION Someone’s life may be in your hands In the field of healthcare, it is essential that you can think critically. It isn’t enough just to memorize facts; you need to know how to apply these facts to new situations, evaluate their significance and make well-thought out decisions. Someone’s life may be in your hands

KEY POINT: Don’t skip over maps, charts, graphs, diagrams or pictures when reading your textbooks. These visuals are used in medical records – understand how to get the most information from them.

Test your critical thinking skills: See how well you can understand the diagram on the structure of the human ear.  

Do you understand what you see?

Questions: Refer back to the diagram Answer the following questions based on the diagram. Decide if the question is true, false or can’t tell based on the information provided.   1. You are looking at one diagram of the ear canal. 2. Sound enters the ear through the auditory canal. 3. Sound enters through the auditory nerve to the cochlea.   4. Hearing problems are the result of damage to the eardrum. 5. If punctured, the eardrum cannot be repaired. 6. It can be assumed from the diagram that the malleus, incus and stapes are positioned to conduct sound from the eardrum to the oval window. 7. The basilar membrane is contained in the oval window. 8. The cochlea might be described as resembling a snail.

Answers 1. False, two diagrams. The inner ear and the cochlea True False, goes through the eardrum and oval window. It comes out through the auditory nerve Can’t Tell False, in the cochlea

More Practice Work with your group members as you apply your critical thinking skills to the exercises given in class.