CLINICAL REASONING CASES IN
NURSING 7TH EDITION HARDING SNYDER
SCRIPT COMPLETE ANSWERS GRADED
A+
◉ A client with diarrhea also has a primary care provider's order
for a bulk laxative daily. The nurse, not realizing that bulk
laxatives can help solidify certain types of diarrhea, concludes,
"The primary care provider does not know the client has
diarrhea." What type of statement is this?
1. A fact
2. An inference
3. A judgment
4. An opinion
Answer: 2. An inference
Rationale: The nurse has inferred and concluded something that
is beyond the available information (and in this case may not be
accurate). The prescription and the diarrhea are facts (option 1).
It would be judgment and opinion if the nurse stated that the
laxative would make the diarrhea worse and should not be given
(options 3 and 4). (Note: Critical thinking will cause this nurse to
examine the assumptions made and gather more data before
acting.)
, ◉ Reflection (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: Nurse identifies factors that improved client care and
those that required changing or elimination
◉ Learning how to act (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: 1) How and when to respond in a clinical situation
2) Thinking about potential complications given the client's
current problems
◉ Setting Priorities (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: 1) Needs to be dynamic, flexible
2) Difficult for beginning nursing students to determine which
data are most relevant (Preclinical preparation)
3) Priorities may change based on current client situation.
◉ creativity
Answer: thinking that results in the development of ne ideas and
products
◉ Intellectual Courage to Challenge the Status Quo and Rituals
(Attitudes that Foster Critical Thinking)
Answer: when a nurse is willing to consider and examine fairly his
or her own ideas or views, especially those to which the nurse
may have a strongly negative reaction
NURSING 7TH EDITION HARDING SNYDER
SCRIPT COMPLETE ANSWERS GRADED
A+
◉ A client with diarrhea also has a primary care provider's order
for a bulk laxative daily. The nurse, not realizing that bulk
laxatives can help solidify certain types of diarrhea, concludes,
"The primary care provider does not know the client has
diarrhea." What type of statement is this?
1. A fact
2. An inference
3. A judgment
4. An opinion
Answer: 2. An inference
Rationale: The nurse has inferred and concluded something that
is beyond the available information (and in this case may not be
accurate). The prescription and the diarrhea are facts (option 1).
It would be judgment and opinion if the nurse stated that the
laxative would make the diarrhea worse and should not be given
(options 3 and 4). (Note: Critical thinking will cause this nurse to
examine the assumptions made and gather more data before
acting.)
, ◉ Reflection (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: Nurse identifies factors that improved client care and
those that required changing or elimination
◉ Learning how to act (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: 1) How and when to respond in a clinical situation
2) Thinking about potential complications given the client's
current problems
◉ Setting Priorities (components of clinical reasoning)
Answer: 1) Needs to be dynamic, flexible
2) Difficult for beginning nursing students to determine which
data are most relevant (Preclinical preparation)
3) Priorities may change based on current client situation.
◉ creativity
Answer: thinking that results in the development of ne ideas and
products
◉ Intellectual Courage to Challenge the Status Quo and Rituals
(Attitudes that Foster Critical Thinking)
Answer: when a nurse is willing to consider and examine fairly his
or her own ideas or views, especially those to which the nurse
may have a strongly negative reaction
