Critical Thinking By: Katie Klein, RNC-OB Viterbo University

Definition: Critical thinking is a crucial skill developed through education, practice, and experience. It is purposeful, reflective, and complex. There are self regulatory judgments, intellectual discipline, and educated evaluations that go into making any decision or plan of action using critical thinking. (“Are you” 2015; Banning, 2006) Skills do not develop without practice.

Developing the Skill of Critical Thinking Education – the more new ideas and concepts you are exposed to, the more resources you will have to draw upon when difficult situations arise. –Think of an example in your life where you learned something new and then had to put that knowledge to use a short time later! –CPR, Heimlich maneuver, delivering a baby, etc.

Practice – don’t wait for something to happen. Get involved in drills and mock codes to help develop your skills BEFORE they are put to the test in real life. - You may already recognize a need for more practice in your workplace. Developing the Skill of Critical Thinking (cont.)

Experience – be the person to move toward a difficult patient or family member. Try not to shy away or hide from the situations where you could potentially learn the most. - Valuable lessons are learned on the other side of difficult experiences. Developing the Skill of Critical Thinking (cont.)

Life Experience General Example: Fire alarm sounds (3 yr old) Fire alarm sounds (parent) Personal Example: Woman screams (in OB) Handed chainsaw (in woods) “To effectively apply critical thinking to a discipline, the individual must have discipline specific knowledge…” (Morris, 2016, p.176).

Characteristics and Strategies of a Critical Thinker Characteristics Open-minded Inquisitive, curious, and enthusiastic Truth-seeking Analytical Systematic Self-confident Strategies Knowledge Work Schema Search Hypothesizing If-then Thinking Comparative Analysis Reframing Reflection Check

Imperative part of critical thinking and truly learning from experiences. “…reflective activities are required to initiate, sustain, nurture, and influence the process of critical thinking over time and between contexts” (Banning, 2006, p. 458).

How do we apply our skills to our practice? Nursing Process Critical Thinking Clinical Reasoning Clinical Judgment Baccalaureate Education

Viterbo’s Concepts of Nursing CommunicationPolicy, Finance, and RegulationsProfessional Values Health Promotion Disease Prevention and SafetyEvidence Based Practice Each of these concepts are deliberately and strategically developed to enhance the next. The same is even more true with critical thinking!

Author Sheila Paul summarizes a recurring theme when she points out there has yet to be developed a reliable tool to accurately measure or assess critical thinking skills. There have been several attempts and studies, but the data remains inconsistent (p.1360). Why do you think this the case? What tools do you think a nurse educator should utilize when attempting to determine a student’s critical thinking skills and how well do you perform when your critical skills are put to the test? My question for you… Something I found interesting:

References Are you in congestive nursing failure? Legal issues, critical thinking, and the impact on practice. (2015). ISNA Bulletin, 41(2), Banning, M. (2006). Nursing research: perspectives on critical thinking. British Journal of Nursing, 15(8), Morris, B.C. (2016). Think like a nurse: Essential thinking skills for professional nurses. In E. Friberg & J. Creasia (Eds.), Conceptual foundations: A bridge to professional nursing practice. (pp ). St. Louis, MI: Elsevier. Paul, S.A. (2014). Assessment of critical thinking: A Delphi study. Nurse Education Today, 34(11), doi: /j.nedt