In a very direct way, this course is about power dynamics and critical thinking. Both are at play for this assignment:
In 1-2 pages of double-spaced work, discuss a time you had to apply critical thinking in a personal or professional setting. Make sure you draw on the critical thinking steps listed on pages 17-18 of your textbooks.
Good grades can be achieved through meeting length requirements
,
drawing on specifics from your textbook,
andgenuinelyengaging with the material.
Let me know if you have any questions!
When faced with a problem, most of us worry a lot before we finally begin working through the problem effectively, which means using fewer emotions and more rational thinking skills. As a health care practitioner, you will be expected to approach a problem at work in a manner that lets you act as ethically, legally, and helpfully as possible. Sometimes solutions to problems must also be found as quickly as possible, but solutions must always be within the scope of your training, licensure, and capabilities. This problem-solving process is called criticalthinking. Here is a five-step aid for approaching a problem using critical thinking:1. Identifyandclarifytheproblem. It’s impossible to solve a problem unless you know the exact nature of the problem. For example, imagine that patients in a medical office have frequently complained that the wait to see physicians is too long, and several have protested.loudly and angrily that their time “is valuable too.” Rhea is the wait-ing room receptionist and the person who faces angry patients first, so she would like to solve this problem as quickly as possible. Rhea has recognized that a problem exists, of course, but her apologies to patients have been temporary fixes, and the situation continues.2. Gatherinformation. In the previous situation, Rhea begins to gather information. She first checks to see exactly why patients have been kept waiting and considers the following questions: Are all the phy-sicians simply oversleeping and beginning the day behind schedule? (Not likely, but an easy solution if this were the case would be to buy the physicians new alarm clocks.) Are the physicians often delayed in surgery or because of hospital rounds? Is the clinic under-staffed? How long, on average, has each patient who has complained been waiting beyond his or her appointment time?3. Evaluatetheevidence. Rhea evaluates the answers she has gathered to the earlier questions and determines that too many patients are, indeed, waiting too long beyond appointment times to see their phy-sicians. The next step in the critical thinking process is to consider all possible ways to solve the problem.4. Consider alternatives and implications. Rhea has determined that the evidence supports the fact that a problem exists and begins to formulate alternatives by asking herself these questions: Could the waiting room be better supplied with current reading material or perhaps television sets and a children’s corner, so that patients both with and without children are less likely to complain about waiting? Is the waiting room cheery and comfortable, so waiting does not seem interminable? What solution would best serve the goals of phy-sicians, other medical office personnel, and patients? Rhea must consider costs of, objections to, and all others’ opinions of each alter-native she considers.5. Chooseandimplementthebestalternative. Rhea selects an alterna-tive and implements it. As a medical office receptionist, she cannot act alone, but she has brought the problem to the attention of those who can help, and her suggestions have been heard. As a result of Rhea’s research, acceptable solutions to patients’ complaints that they are forced to wait too long to see physicians might include the following:• Patients are asked to remind receptionists when they have been waiting more than 15 minutes so receptionists can check to see what is causing the dela