A student nurse is studying clinical judgment theories and is working with Tanner's Model of Clinical Judgment. How can the student nurse best generalize this model?

A) A reflective process where the nurse notices, interprets, responds, and reflects in action
B) One conceptual mechanism for critiquing ideas and establishing goal-oriented care
C) Researching best practice literature to create care pathways for certain populations
D) Assessing, diagnosing, implementing, and evaluating the nursing care plans

Looking across theories and definitions of clinical judgment, they all have in common the ability to reflect on data and choose actions. Reflection also considers evaluating the result of the actions to determine whether they were effective. Although critiquing ideas and establishing goal-oriented care could be considered part of a generalized statement of critical thinking, this is not broad enough without the reflection and evaluation. Clinical judgment would most likely be used to create care paths derived from the evidence; however, this is not the cornerstone of the Tanner Model. Clinical judgment is used when engaging in the nursing process, but this is too narrow in focus to capture the essence of critical thinking definitions and theories. Critical thinking is not synonymous with the nursing process.