Designed to help beginning students develop critical thinking skills for nursing practice, this worktext presents over 80 realistic case studies and scenarios commonly encountered in the clinical setting. Using a straightforward approach and a variety of learning methods, it establishes a fundamental knowledge base and reinforces key concepts and principles. Guiding you through the application, analysis, and synthesis of knowledge in clinical situations, you will also learn how to integrate the nursing process as it applies to critical thinking. Covers timely issues such as delegation, prioritization, documentation/charting, and patient safety.Includes over 80 progressive cases that build as complications occur and encourage critical thinking skills in the clinical setting. Case studies address important issues in current practice, including leadership and delegation, pharmacology, culture, bioterrorism, and environmental disasters. Review questions reinforce case study applications and prepare you for test taking. Includes evaluation learning activities that cover topics such as drug therapy, decision-making, and priority setting to help you apply critical thinking skills. Section on "Applying Critical Thinking Skills to Clinical Situations" features new case scenarios exposing you to more advanced clinical situations and addressing those key skills and behaviors critical for nursing practice. Highlights prioritization and delegation content to reinforce the importance of prioritizing and delegating in the workplace. Continued case studies on Evolve provide more in-depth information for continuation of selected key case studies in the book and allow you to cover more advanced concepts. Supplemental audio content on Evolve features heart and lung sounds, reporting, and patient communication related to selected cases to help students become familiar with hearing (not just seeing) common reports, communications, and clinical heart and lung sounds. NCLEX® exam-style review questions on Evolve now include new alternate-item format questions along with the traditional multiple-choice questions.