Clinical Judgment - Assignment Example

Operational definition

Clinical judgment in evidence–based practice is the judicious consideration of all available treatment options using available knowledge, gathered from research, with an aim to arrive at the one that meets the needs of a patient most effectively. This requires quality external scientific evidence, clinical expertise or opinion, and a consideration of the patient and caregiver’s values (Kienle & Kiene, 2011).

Related concept:

Empirically based practice

The empirically based clinical practice considers effective treatment options that are supported by a number of research studies. This requires clinical expertise and knowledge of using research data in practice (Ratanasiripong & Chai, 2013).

Exemplar case

Ms. Murphy, a young African American woman, visits Westcoast Medical Center complaining of persistent headaches and after tests, the clinician ascertains she has hypertension. She takes the patient through the pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatment options for hypertension highlighting the evidence supporting the effectiveness of each until they identify the one that works best for Ms. Murphy (Speros, 2005).

Contrary case

Ms. Murphy walks into a nearby hospital with a complaint of an unceasing headache. The clinician quickly prescribes strong painkillers to Ms. Murphy which she takes and goes home (Kienle & Kiene, 2011).

Related case

Ms. Murphy visits a hospital far from her home and a clinician listens to her complaint and inspects her for different signs. The clinician engages the data she collects and is able to identify that Ms. Murphy has hypertension. She considers different treatment options each of which is supported by three controlled studies of its effectiveness and picks one that she thinks would work for Ms. Murphy (Ratanasiripong & Chai, 2013).

Borderline case

A clinician at Blueline Medical Center notes Ms. Murphy’s health complaints and checks her for extra symptoms and she concludes that it is a hypertension case. The clinician aptly searches for relevant information on different treatment options, shares it with Ms. Murphy, and leaves her to choose one (Speros, 2005).

Context and values

As an African American woman, Ms. Murphy might be from a cultural setting where females seldom do physical exercise due to a preservative culture. She might not agree to invasive surgical procedures due to her religious values (Kienle & Kiene, 2011). Clinical judgment in evidence-based practice would help prescribe the intervention that she would afford and one that would not clash with her values.