Clinical reasoning—how a nurse processes information and chooses what action to take — is a skill vital to the success of nursing practice and patient care. Developing the clinical reasoning in order to make those critical, split-second decisions takes time, education, experience, patience, and reflection. 

In The Essentials of Clinical Reasoning for Nurses, published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International, authors RuthAnne Kuiper, Sandra O’Donnell, Daniel Pesut, and Stephanie Turrise, and provide a model that supports learning and teaching clinical reasoning, development of reflective and complex thinking, clinical supervision, and care planning through scenarios, diagnostic cues, case webs, and more. The widely acclaimed Outcome-Present State-Test (OPT) Model serves as both a method for self-regulation in nursing and as a patient-centered clinical reasoning model for aspiring and practicing nurses. 

“The best nurses know they still have room to grow, especially when it comes to clinical reasoning,” Kuiper said. “It is important for all medical professionals to be sure they are constantly ensuring the best possible patient outcomes.”

This book is a must-have resource for nurse educators, clinicians, managers, administrators, and students who want to develop, hone, and fine-tune their clinical reasoning skills. 

It is available at http://www.nursingknowledge.org/sttibooks.