
Alfaro’s Clinical Judgment in Nursing: A How-To Practice Approach
- 8th Edition - August 10, 2024
- Imprint: Elsevier
- Authors: Donna D. Ignatavicius, Susan Andersen
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 3 7 7 5 - 7
- Paperback ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 3 6 2 5 - 5
- eBook ISBN:9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 3 7 7 6 - 4
Develop the multiple types of thinking you need to make safe, appropriate clinical judgments! Alfaro’s Clinical Judgment in Nursing: A How-To Practice Approach, 8th Edit… Read more

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Request a sales quoteDevelop the multiple types of thinking you need to make safe, appropriate clinical judgments! Alfaro’s Clinical Judgment in Nursing: A How-To Practice Approach, 8th Edition, brings these concepts to life through engaging, easy-to-understand language, diverse learning activities, and real-life clinical scenarios. This edition emphasizes readiness for nursing practice and the Next-Generation NCLEX® exam, with a focus on the six cognitive (thinking) skills needed to make evidence-based clinical judgments.
- UPDATED! Restructured coverage reflects the latest research and trends related to the multiple types of thinking needed to make effective clinical judgments in nursing.
- Thinking Exercises throughout each chapter, and again at the end of each chapter, enable you to apply clear examples of clinical judgment cognitive skills that measure:
- Recognize Cues
- Analyze Cues
- Prioritize Hypotheses
- Generate Solutions
- Take Actions
- Evaluate Outcomes
- UPDATED! Next-Generation NCLEX® (NGN) thinking exercises prepare you for the significant changes to the exam.
- NEW! Additional NGN-Style Unfolding Case Studies and Standalone Items on the companion Evolve website give you valuable practice answering these new question types.
- Clear, straightforward approach and motivational writing style provides real-life clinical scenarios that illustrate how to make effective clinical judgments in nursing practice.
- Highlighted features and sections promote deep learning, including:
- This Chapter at a Glance
- Learning Outcomes
- Key Terms
- Clinical Judgment Tip boxes
- Thinking Exercise boxes
RN and RN-to-BSN nursing students
- Cover image
- Title page
- Table of Contents
- Copyright
- About the Authors
- Dedication
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- 1. Introduction to Clinical Reasoning and Clinical Judgment
- Nurses’ Role in Client Safety
- Brief Review of the Nursing Process
- Clinical Reasoning
- Essential Types of Thinking for Clinical Reasoning
- Thinking Ahead, Thinking-In-Action, and Thinking Back
- Clinical Judgment
- Developing Clinical Judgment Skills for Nursing Practice and NGN Readiness
- 2. How to Recognize Cues
- Identifying Clinical Cues
- Differentiating Clinical Cues
- Preventing Failure to Rescue
- Ensuring Situational Awareness
- Recognizing Changes in Clients’ Clinical Conditions
- Recognizing Cues to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- End-of-Chapter Exercises
- Answers and Rationales for Thinking Exercises
- 3. How to Analyze Cues
- Organizing and Linking Identified Clinical Cues
- Interpreting Clinical Cues
- Anticipating Common Medical Conditions
- Determining Client Conditions
- Analyzing Cues to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- Strategies for How to Analyze Cues
- End-of-Chapter Exercises
- Answers and Rationales for Thinking Exercises
- 4. How to Prioritize Hypotheses
- Prioritizing Hypotheses
- Approaches to Prioritizing Client Conditions
- Levels of Priority for Client Conditions
- Triage Systems
- Commonly Used Models of Priority Setting for Client Conditions
- Prioritizing Hypotheses to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- End-of-Chapter Thinking Exercises
- Answers and Rationales for Thinking Exercises
- 5. How to Generate Solutions
- Generating Solutions
- Process of Generating Solutions
- Generating Client-Centered Solutions
- Generating Solutions to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- End-of-Chapter Thinking Exercises
- 6. How to Take Actions
- Taking Actions
- Categories of Nursing Actions
- Direct Versus Indirect Nursing Actions
- Taking Actions to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- End-of-Chapter Exercises
- 7. How to Evaluate Outcomes
- Evaluating Clinical Outcomes
- Process for Evaluating Outcomes
- Evaluating Outcomes to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- End-of-Chapter Thinking Exercises
- 8. How to Make Safe Clinical Judgments
- Readiness for Nursing Practice and Clinical Judgment Review
- Unfolding Case Study Examples
- Stand-Alone Item Examples
- Answers and Rationales for Unfolding Case Studies and Stand-Alone Items
- Index
- Edition: 8
- Published: August 10, 2024
- Imprint: Elsevier
- No. of pages: 318
- Language: English
- Paperback ISBN: 9780323937757
- Paperback ISBN: 9780323936255
- eBook ISBN: 9780323937764
DI
Donna D. Ignatavicius
Donna Ignatavicius is nationally recognized as an expert in nursing education and medical-surgical/gerontological nursing and has a wealth of experiences as a nurse educator, clinical nurse specialist, and administrator for over 40 years. Currently, she provides curriculum consultation and presentations for nursing faculty on topics such as concept-based curriculum, assessment of learning methods, and active learning strategies through her consulting company, DI Associates, Inc. Additionally, she is the primary author of numerous articles and books, including Medical-Surgical Nursing: Concepts for Interprofessional Collaborative Care, 11th ed. (2024) and her new student workbooks, Developing Clinical Judgment for Professional Nursing Practice and NGN Readiness, 2nd ed. (2024) and Developing Clinical Judgment for Practical/Vocational Nursing and the Next-Generation NCLEX-PN® Examination (2021). In 2007 she was inducted as a fellow into the prestigious Academy of Nursing Education (ANEF) for her national contribution to the field of nursing education. In 2016 she obtained her Certified Nurse Educator® (CNE) credential; in 2020 she obtained her Academic Clinical Nurse Educator (CNEcl) credential.
Affiliations and expertise
Speaker and Curriculum Consultant for Academic Nursing Programs; Founder, Boot Camp for Nurse Educators; President, DI Associates, Inc. Littleton, Colorado, USA