ATI Modules 3 & 4

Knowledge and Clinical Judgement

            This module included a lot about different types of knowledge that nurses should acquire along with different learning styles and ways of thinking. Nursing knowledge consists of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Having specialized knowledge is really important in the nursing world because you need to be able to use that to promote health, prevent disease, and empower others. In order to obtain that, a nurse would need to have a foundation of understanding pathophysiology, nutrition, nursing procedures, mathematics, legal issues, ethical issues, and effective communication. There are different learning styles that may help someone gather the important information that a nurse needs to know. People can be a visual learner, auditory learner, or tactile learner. It is better to figure out the learning style that works best for you because it will help with foundational thinking.

            I feel as though understanding these concepts will help a student be able to integrate into the nursing culture. This module made me realize that every little thing we do/ learn in school connects to the knowledge foundation we will need when we begin our careers. It also made me reflect on myself and think about the ways that I learned best. After thinking about it, I realized that I am a visual learner so when we do things in class or lab that may not be for visual learners, I need to pay even more attention and try to picture it in my head in order to get the knowledge foundation I need and help me to think as a nurse.

Priority-Setting Frameworks

            When a nurse is at work they are always busy and left feeling like they have a million things to do. This module helped a lot with figuring how to prioritize needs and what things should be done first. A very helpful tool that can be looked at is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, which puts psychological needs at the bottom and self-actualization needs at the top. It explains that all the needs below self-actualization need to be met before that can happen. This is why it is very important to have a client care focus in order to learn about your patient, and figure out the order of what needs have to be met. Aside from that, the priority of initial assessment in general is known as “ABC,” which stands for airway, breathing and circulation. No matter what is wrong with the patient, if one of those three needs are not being met then that is a big indicator on what you should do first.

Knowing and understanding what needs to prioritize will help increase patient safety. That is a reason this module is important in helping students understand what should be addressed first, when they become nurses. I will always remember “ABC” as being the most important needs of a patient when I become a nurse. It makes sense because if someone’s airways are impaired, they aren’t breathing, or their blood isn’t being circulated through their body, then the rest of their issues in that moment should not matter. After the ABC is addressed, then I could also use Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in order to help figure out what needs need to be met first. Having these concepts in the back of my mind will help me understand my patient and prioritize their needs.