Nursing Assignment: Clinical Reasoning Cycle and Patient Interview

Running head: NURSING ASSIGNMENT
NURSING ASSIGNMENT
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1NURSING ASSIGNMENT
Introduction:
According to Hunter and Arthur (2016), the process of clinical reasoning facilitates
healthcare professionals to undertake clinical judgment. The process involves the steps of
collecting cues, processing information, developing an understanding about the patient’s
condition, devising interventions, analyzing outcomes and according learning from the process.
A patient-centred interview helps in addressing the first three steps of the clinical reasoning cycle
(Peabody, 2015). This paper would build on the patient interview of a 71 year old female and
discuss the case in relation to the clinical reasoning cycle.
Consider the patient situation:
The patient interview took place within the care unit of a residential care facility. The
care unit was basically a small room that had a desk and two chairs placed in the opposite
direction. There was no external disturbance and session only included me and the patient. A one
on one session was conducted with the patient, where I asked some questions to the patient about
her illness and documented her responses. The documentation was done by me manually on a
notepad. Apart from that, I also conducted a vital assessment and documented the observed data.
Collect cues and information:
I started the session by focusing on the general health of the patient. I asked her what
made her request an appointment. To that she replied she had been feeling unwell since the past
few days. I then asked her what was mainly her health problem and to that she explained that she
had Diabetes and hypertension. Next, I asked her to describe her present health condition and to
that she replied, poor. Upon asking her to explain, she mentioned she felt increasingly fatigued
and had lost appetite. Further, she explained she found it difficult to sleep and during the night

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experienced a burning sensation in her feet. I then asked her if she was already under medication
and she mentioned that her present medications included Metformin (500mg) twice a day for her
Diabetes and Thiazide 25 mg PO once a day for her hypertension. The patient was then asked if
she took any over the counter medication and to that she said Aspirin for the pain in her joints
occasionally. The patient reported no allergies. Further the patient mentioned that she lived alone
and her husband had passed away three months ago due to a cardiac arrest. She stated that she
had a daughter who was married and settled in China and visited once in a year. After the death
of her husband the patient reported to feel extremely lonely and found it difficult to cope alone at
home and that accounted for the reason why she chose to stay in the residential care facility. The
patient reported no history of smoking of drinking.
After documenting the patient information, the vital assessment was conducted. The vital
sign assessment data yielded the following information:
 Temperature: 38ᵒC
 Hear Rate: 20 breaths per minute
 Blood Pressure: 145/95 mmHg
 Respiratory Rate: 112 beats per minute
 Body weight: 52 kg
 Height: 161cm
The foot was assessed for the presence of any ulcers or burns, however, there was no sign
of any an ulcer, burn or any injury.
Process Information: