Critical thinking and Evidence-based practice.

Please respond to the following post with a long paragraph, with references and citations, in alphabetical order.

Define critical thinking and evidence-based practice. Discuss what critical thinking in nursing practice entails and explain why it is important. Discuss the role of critical thinking and evidence-based practice as they relate to patient outcomes.

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Critical thinking and Evidence-based practice share a similarity of having the act of analyzing a situation to get the best solution for it. However, they differ in practice because, during critical thinking, an individual makes a decision based on personal knowledge meaning that in any case, the individual had a misinformed fact, a wrong decision may be made, while in evidence-based practice, the decision is made as an inference from other situations which ensures more precision of the decision due to comparison from different similar conditions. Therefore, both critical thinking and evidence-based practice play a significant role in improving the quality of healthcare and should be used with verified facts to avoid misinterpretation. To make an appropriate decision or judgment, an individual is required to analyze and evaluate the issue. The process of analyzing an issue to make subtle choices is called critical thinking. Consequently, evidence-based practice is the use of the best-proved way to do something. In nursing, it is the use of the current best explanation or evidence to solve a health issue. Critical thinking may arise in two ways during nursing practices; either during clinical decision making or practitioner duties. In clinical decision making, the nurse is required to think and apply the gained knowledge to ensure quality healthcare assurance and safe practices (Zuriguel & Lluch et al., 2015). The expertise either gained from books or previous methods is supposed to help the nurse relate and decide on the best solution. Intuitively, during duties, a practitioner should work in adherence to the set standards of work and the making of legible clinical judgments to ensure safe health practice. In general, critical thinking in nursing enhances and emphasizes the delivery of safe health services ranging from patient analysis to patient treatment.

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