Critical Thinking In Nursing

The nursing profession requires the thinking skills of aspiring students to meet standards above and beyond that of any other profession. In order to effectively implement the nursing process in practice, a nurse must thoroughly understand the foundations of critical thinking by incorporating the elements of critical thinking: determining the problem, the goal, frame of reference, assumptions that we hold about the particular matter, concepts, ideas, or principles vital to the problem, evidence or data, interpretations, and implications or consequences. Giving students the ability to fine tune these skills, in a safe and controlled environment, is proving to be very beneficial.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the published research

The students were divided into groups of six, with each bearing the responsibility of creating their own scenarios. Each group was allowed to proctor their own scenario, with the other group actively participating as student learners. Each group had access to nursing faculty to answer student questions. A database was set up with sample scenarios, and other information to serve as a guide for the assignment. The activity was scheduled to take place on the last day of their clinical rotation. Students put together all aspects of the scenario: medical diagnosis, comorbidities, signs and symptoms, interdisciplinary roles for the students participating, even props that were necessary to make their scenario as realistic as possible. They also had to provide a complete medical chart with all pertinent information. Each group presented their scenarios to the faculty to ensure that an adequate patient acuity level was established in order to encourage participation. Because these students would soon be graduating, the emphasis was to develop a patient with complex health needs. The scenarios were set to begin with change of shift report to the participating group, and then the student nurses would engage in initial baseline patient assessments. The group facilitating the scenario received help from faculty in changing the manikin simulator settings through the progression of the event.