A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding Clinical Reasoning Cycle

Using the clinical reasoning cycle in medicine is rampant. This is because of its high effectiveness and ability to provide best patient care. It is a process used by the nurses to collect the facts, analyse information, evaluate the cause of the problem of the patient and execute interventions. This helps in evaluating the outcomes and learning from the process so that it can provide the best care to the patients. The medical professionals can also reflect upon their teachings so that they can understand what can be learnt or what should be improved.

Clinical reasoning is usually used in training the nurses and other clinicians during their internship periods to make best decisions about patient care. This helps in providing a tool to the medical people for catering to the complicated patient situations. So that the knowledge gathered using this tool can develop a good intervention plan for the patient. Students who have been studying nursing or other medical subjects are well-versed in the significance of clinical reasoning and how this can be useful for them in the future.

Different phases of Clinical Reasoning Cycle

The Clinical Reasoning Cycle has eight phases in total. Although the Clinical Reasoning Cycle is a process, it is divided into different phases for its effective application. One always moves back and forth from one phase to another so that proper evaluation of the health status of the patient can be done. The eight phases of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle are explained as under.

• Considering facts from the patient/situation: The first phase is to consider the facts from the clinical case. At this phase, the emphasis is given to clinical cases. The medical professional gets the information and also presents the medical position of the patient. For instance, if a newborn is admitted, then the medical professional gets information about if he has jaundice or not.
• Data gathering: the second phase in the Clinical Reasoning Cycle is to collect the information. At this stage, the medical practitioner analyses the past medical history of the patient so that different information can be collected. This can include understanding the past medical history of the patient, any complaints of the patient in the past, intervention being given, investigation being done on the patient and signs. The information is drawn by analysing the findings of the pharmacology, pathology, culture, etc. so that proper intervention can be developed.
• Analysis of collected information: The third stage is to analyse the collected information. It is a key stage and the medical professional is expected to process all the information at this stage. It should process the data related to existing health status to understand distinct patterns. This helps the medical professional know about the relevant details and outcomes for the decisions that are made.
• Determine the problem: At this phase of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle, all the information has been collected so they can analyse the cause of the patient’s medical condition. This helps in determining an effective intervention.
• Develop goals: The next phase at Clinical Reasoning Cycle is to develop goals considering the situation of the patient. Intervention plans should be time-bound and closed-ended. This can help in achieving the goals effectively.
• Taking steps: At this phase of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle, the focus is on executing the right actions so that the treatment goals of the patient can be managed. This should be aligned with goals of the patient’s condition well so that it can achieve these. It should communicate the steps to everyone in the team.
• Assessment: At this stage, it monitored the actions. The focus is on proper change and continuing the steps being taken before based on the evaluation.
• Reflection: After everything has been done, the last phase of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle is reflecting on the things learnt from this specific case. At this stage, the focus is on understanding the things that could have been done effectively and the things that could not have been done effectively.

So, these are eight phases of the Clinical Reasoning Cycle. All these phases are interlinked with each other and must be performed in sequence to avoid any gaps.

It can conclude that the clinical reasoning cycle is the best decision-making tool used by the medical professionals for developing intervention of their patients. This enables the professionals to provide best care to their patients.