Critical and Creative Thinking
In the Work Place
Elizabeth Willis-Satele
October 4, 2014, 2014
COM 600
Chad Millar
Critical and Creative Thinking in the Work Place As adults, we may enter into careers that require us to use critical and creative thinking skills. In the workplace, situations such as teamwork, presentations, and crises require us to use those skills. In my previous employment, I was a crisis outreach worker working specifically with individuals who were developmentally disabled. I often received calls from individuals who either lived with a caretaker, particularly a family member, alone or in a care home. With every call that I received, there was always a new challenge. However, there was always that one client whom I would receive calls from for repetitious behavior.
Case Study: Client Z
Here, I would like to present client Z in order to demonstration how I used critical and creative thinking skills to deal with the same issue. As with any job, we tend to experience new issues because we learn how to fix the problem to avoid having to deal with it again. However, this cannot always be the case as you will see with client Z. Client Z was a 31 year old male diagnosed as having epilepsy, cerebral palsy, bipolar disorder, and mild mental retardation (MMR). In addition to his bipolar mental health diagnosis, client Z was also schizophrenic and met the criteria listed in the DSM-IV (a diagnostic tool used by psychology professionals to
Personally speaking, critical thinking is an undervalued and underutilized tool. When confronted by a problem with another person, most people just react. In these situations, I have learned to take a step back, take an objective look at the situation, and make an informed judgment/decision. By applying critical thinking to my personal life, friendships, marriage, and my relationship with my children will have a greater chance of success and less negative confrontation.
Nursing practice requires both critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Critical thinking is the process of deliberate higher level thinking to define a patient’s problem, examine the evidence-based practice in caring for the patient’s, and make options in the delivery of optimal care. Critical thinking involves the demarcation of statements of fact, judgment, and opinion. The progression of critical thinking requires the nurse to think imaginatively, use reflection, and engage in logical thinking (Alfaro-LeFevre, 2013). Critical thinking is a vital skill needed for the recognition of patient’s
I can cite a few examples of patient situations where the difference in critical thinking would have an inadvertent outcome in my practice with patients in the oncology unit. In our inpatient unit, all nurses, both ADN and BSN educated get the same training on how to deal change in patient’s status while administering chemotherapy and biotherapy agents which would require calling in the rapid response team if necessary. In one instance a
Thinking in such a scenario shifts from mere speculations to thinking rationally by widening the scope of thinking. Nevertheless, this is a decision that the nurse makes rather than the policies and guidelines established to govern nursing practice. The nurse moves from basic reasoning to “critical reasoning through active reflection and subsequent judgment” (Benner, Hughes, & Sutphen, 2008, p. 3). This cannot take place automatically. The nurse has to be conscious or aware that s/he is thinking critically about a situation or an intervention strategy.
I attempted to teach my friend how to drive when I was 16. There were four of my friends in the car when the lesson began. The car was totaled. My friends were hurt, I was hurt. I felt horrible as a juvenile for being responsible for that accident. I have learned that you should never listen to what a group of people is saying to you; you should think for yourself. Groupthink is a terrible thing.
When I was considering how I could show to you that I not only read Brave New World, but also that I used critical thinking to generate a thought provoking piece. I came up with the newspaper idea because I knew I could talk about current issue while also pretending to be a part of the Brave New World London society. WIth each piece I tried to tackle a difference issue and compare and contrast our society’s viewpoints with their viewpoints.
Describe how you utilized your critical thinking skills in the clinical environment. Give specific examples.
I don’t know what to write. The thought keeps running through my mind haunting me as I try to figure out my english assignment. All I can think of is negative stories that are sure not going to be appropriate for school. At this point I start to wonder about my writing abilities and thoughts begin pouring in before I have a chance to stop them.
Zooming in on my work in the human services, and how it called upon my role as a critical thinker, I will describe a specific scenario. As a case manager at an acute treatment unit for clients with mental illness, I was called upon to help certain clients with their discharge plans (also called relapse prevention plans). I remember a particular client, a man in his sixties who complained primarily of depression and suicidal thoughts. The process of completing his discharge plan involved a number of critical thinking skills. I needed to determine the best way to
Critical thinking, in the context of employability, it is a broad term that encompasses the use of “problem solving, analysis, creative thinking, interpretation, and reasoning.” (Dash, “Why Critical Thinking Skills Are Essential in Business”) In other words, while there are varying definitions for critical thinking, it is generally considered a skill set with specific parameters. One of the necessary conditions within of this definition is that the idea to which the term ‘critical thinking’ is ascribed is a skill set. This is also considered a “key area” of professional development. (Joschik, “Well-Prepared in Their Own Eyes”) Furthermore, critical thinking is necessarily a mental process. This is due to the fact that each of the encompassed terms, such as problem solving and analysis, are mental processes. Finally, if the subject to which the term ‘critical thinking’ is being applied is “the ability to think clearly and rationally,” then the subject possesses the sufficient condition to be considered critical thinking. (Hofmeister, “Critical Thinking and Getting a Job”)
Imaginative critical thinking aptitudes have incalculable employments. Time and again individuals relate innovative critical thinking with managing emergencies or challenges, or consider it something that is utilized for amusements and riddles or uncommon sorts of occupations. In any case, inventive critical thinking aptitudes are required for accomplishing extraordinary execution in many occupations ,and all the steady employments. The word issue essentially alludes to any inconsistency between the present circumstance and a coveted future circumstance. Along these lines, figuring out how to misuse an open door is a type of critical thinking similarly as adapting to an emergency seems to be. Later , any chance to enhance work procedures or
Poldma dissects the Interior Design one element at a time. Her book will assist with the research
Every day as an instructional aide I use my critical thinking skills when deciding whether an impending conflict will escalate to violent behavior, deciding on how to approach a student Everyday many employees of organizations use their critical thinking skills in countless decisions, critical thinking skills are not the only skills used by employees, but they are the most important. As an employee I use my critical thinking skills when applying to the policies and procedures of my organization, making determinations, making predictions and problem solving more so on-the spot decision making, and
Change, creativity and innovation are essential elements for survival and growth of an organization. Creativity is vital for the birth of fresh and beneficial ideas. Creative thinking allows groups and individuals to solve problems or stimulate to think differently in order to bring forth fruitful ideas. The above mentioned creative thinking enabled our team of six different personalities to come together and implement a plan to solve a complex problem in a hospital. Our assigned task was to recommend a plan in order to alleviate hospital readmission among elderly population within thirty days of discharge. In this paper the author is narrating the team dynamics, functionalities and personal competencies in the process of recommending a change in the system. As a member in the innovation leadership team the author is also reflecting on the assessment, capacity for innovation in the organization which is the hospital where the team is assigned.
Knowledge is generated through critical and creative thinking. Creative thinking is something new or original that is created with value. Critical thinking is a type of thinking that questions assumptions and validates or invalidates a current belief or something that is said to be previously true. Knowledge is created through the culmination of generally accepted assumptions and creativity. How do you separate general assumptions and creativity? These two types of thinking can be easily separated in regards to concrete or realistic ideas compared to abstract or original ideas however to generate new, acceptable knowledge critical and creative thinking must interact together. The questioning of established beliefs with the creation of