Rank-Talk-Write.

A Beginner’s Guide to Critical Thinking and Writing in Health and Social Care , By  Helen Aveyard, Mary Woolliams, Pam Sharp.

What struck me the most in the introduction of the book was that amongst other users , it mentions that this book is meant for ‘ those who tend to take things at ‘face value’, and need to dig deeper into the evidence they come across’ . This to me is a key component of the definition of critical thinking .

Following are some of the key ideas that I picked up from this book :

1. Critical thinking is essential to promote the best decision- making. (Aveyard et al, 2015, p.28)
2. Critical thinking means being critical about the information we receive and how we use it. (Aveyard et al, 2015, p.28)
3. Information is expanding in all areas of health and social care , ranging from information that can be inaccurate and misleading to useful sources. (Aveyard et al, 2015 )
4. As professionals we need to be able to work out which information is useful to us and use it appropriately . (Aveyard et al, 2015, p.28)
5. ‘Six questions for critical thinking’ tool can help identify the most appropriate sources and enable one to be more critical of the information one uses in their academic work and professional practice – -What is it , Where did you find it , Who has written/said this, When was is written / said, Why was it written/ said , How do you know it is good quality?  (Aveyard et al, 2015, p.18)
6. Incorporating a critical approach in one’s writing and presentations will demonstrate that one is well informed, and able to identify relevant information/evidence and appraise the sources of information/evidence that one comes across.
7. In decreasing order of reliability , sources of information that one can use in research / writing are- Systematic reviews of research , Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), Other quantitative studies , Qualitative studies on patient/client experience , anecdotal reports.
8. Critical thinking is more complex in professional practice than in academic writing or presenting. (Aveyard et al, 2015, p. 131)
9. Not all professionals are rational; sometimes their personal beliefs and attitudes can affect the care they deliver.
10. It is useful to identify whether your work place/placement has a critical approach to learning and consider how to influence it. (Aveyard et al, 2015, p. 131)
11. Critical thinking and reflection go hand in hand; Reid ( 1993) defines reflection as a process of reviewing an experience and learning from it  ( as cited in Aveyard et al, 2015 . )

They ‘ aim’ of the book is to help the readers develop critical skills in making sense of the information they receive in professional or academic work. I picked this book because it reached out to me both as a practicing professional and as a student. Reading this book helped refresh my skills in regards to academic research and writing. It also helped me realise there was room for improvement in some key areas. One of the definitions of critical thinking they give is that critical thinking is ‘taking a step back and thinking logically and carefully about the information and evidence you have, rather than believing and acting on everything you read, see and hear. It is about seeking the best available evidence and using this to challenge your own assumptions and prior understanding. It is about questioning and evaluating the information or evidence available to you’ .

Another concept that they bring to the forefront is by challenging the idea that everybody in professional life is rational. They argue that health and social care professionals have individual values, attitudes and beliefs that affect how they deliver care.  They caution one to be reflective in their work place, and adopt critical thinking. They suggest having a ‘critical’ friend or colleague to help develop self awareness. The book also proposes that one does not always need to keep doing things a certain way because everyone is doing it, or that is how it has always been done.

In promoting the ‘Six Question’ approach towards information sourcing, they suggest that in academic research and writing a student needs to develop critical thinking in analyzing the available information, and filtering what is relevant. If one is not self aware while processing information, they risk preferring evidence that supports their ideas and rejecting information that is opposing to their beliefs.

References

1. A Beginners’ guide to critical thinking and writing in health and social care. ( 2015) Aveyard, H.; Woolliams, M.; Sharp, P. Edition: Second edition. Maidenhead : McGraw-Hill Education.
2. Reid, B. (1993) ‘But we’re doing it already’: exploring a response to the concept of reflective practice in order to improve its facilitation, Nurse Education Today, 13: 305-9

Do they align with your self-conception or not?

-On the Style Questionnaire , my survey respondents have consistently rated me higher on the relationship behaviors than the task behaviors.  This is in alignment with my self score .

-On the LTQ though, there are some discrepancies between what I think of myself and how others perceive me . I have been rated considerably higher on the the ‘self assured’ and ‘self confident ‘ traits . I scored myself way lower on these 2 traits than the respondents on my survey. I attribute this to my coming across highly on the ‘articulate’ and ‘outgoing’ traits as well .

Did you have any revelations or new information to consider?

One of the respondents to my questionnaire rated me very low on the task oriented behaviors, while at the same time rating me higher on the relationship behaviors . I am quite intrigued by this . I am aware that comparatively I do tend to lean more towards relationship oriented , but I would definitely like to follow up with this co-worker and learn more about their perspective of my deficient tasks orientation .

Did anything challenge you with respect to the results?

I took the skills questionnaire twice on 2 different days . My scores on the technical and conceptual skills were similar on both days , but my score on the human skill was very different on the 2 days ! This was very surprising to me and made me reflect . The one possible explanation I came up with was that it might have something to do with how my interactions with other people during the day had been. This has also made me think that I need to be more aware of my sub conscious feelings or emotions manifesting as my behavior towards others.

This is the third of my late responses to Unit 1 activities !

I am responding to nocontest’s question – ” How do you practice increasing your awareness in situations where time is limited, and emotions may be higher than normal? ”

Here is a link to their blog.

I had earlier responded to this on the comments section of their post. I would like to elaborate my thoughts on this .

I agree that self awareness can sometimes take a back seat , especially when we are very invested in an issue. Sometimes our own emotions or past experiences might come in the way of being objective about an issue . I struggle with this too sometimes, though I wouldn’t put this on the top of the qualities that I think are most important to being a good leader. What I have found helpful sometimes is putting my in the other person’s shoes  .  Another strategy that I have found effective is just taking a pause – I call a ‘ time out ‘ and reflect . This helps in avoiding making any impulsive decisions or comments .  I do state here that I do not have any data or literature to support my arguments , these are anecdotal experiences.

I am posting all my responses to Unit 1 activities on the same day, as I just realized that we were supposed to post them in a separate post.

This is my response to mrwilliamsphysed question – ” do you feel Northouse’s ( 2016 ) definition of leadership is different depending on whether you are an assigned or emergent leader ? Here is a link to their blog: https://mrwilliamsphysed.wordpress.com/2017/09/27/ldrs500-2/

I dont think the definition differs for the two kinds of leaders, just the context does . Or more specifically the application does. The assigned leader has the ‘ power ‘ which is bestowed on them because of their designation, and do not necessarily have to work as hard to build a relationship with their followers. An emergent leader has to , as mentioned in the post itself, create a relationship with their peers/ followers . I believe the emergent leader does have to work harder to establish their position within the organization , and create influence .

I also would like to respond to the observation by Kellerman ( 2012 ) , that “Power used to be the domain of leaders, but that is diminishing and shifting to followers ” . I wouldn’t say that power has  shifted from leaders to followers, as much as that the leadership process is now understood to be more of a two way exchange , with increased awareness of each other’s role in the process .

I apologise for not realising that the comments were supposed to be posted in a separate post. I have been responding to my co-students’ post on the comment section in their blogs

This is in response to Riggisonilap’ s question whether the distinction between leader and manager is different ?

Here is the link to their post –

Assigned and Emergent Leaders / Leadership and Management

I think this distinction between a leader and manager is relevant, because even though sometimes their duties might overlap, their overall roles in an organization are different. As you mentioned in your , ‘ people are differently gifted’ ; I would like to add that they are differently trained and might have different perspectives. I see the reason for this distinction at work everyday, where the team leader lays out his vision for the organization, and the manager makes sure the individual roles are carried out ( amongst the myriad other duties both of them perform