Critical Thinking in Nursing

1
Critical Thinking in Nursing
2
Definition

• Critical thinking is an active, organized,
  cognitive process used to carefully examine ones
  thinking and the thinking of others.

3
Why do we need to think critically?

• Need to make accurate and appropriate clinical
  decisions
• Need to solve problems and find solutions
• Need to plan care for each unique client and
  client problem
• Need to seek knowledge and use it to make
  clinical decisions and problem solve
• Need to be able to think creatively when planning
  care for clients

4
Aspects of Critical Thinking

• To develop into an expert critical thinker the
  nurse needs to use
• Reflection
• Language
• Intuition

5
Levels of Critical Thinking

• Basic Critical Thinking
• Complex Critical Thinking
• Commitment

6
Critical Thinking Competencies

• General critical thinking competencies used by
  many disciplines, in many everyday situations.
• Scientific method
• Problem solving
• Decision making

7
Critical Thinking Competencies

• Specific critical thinking in clinical situations
  used by physicians, nurses, and other health care
  professionals.
• Diagnostic reasoning/ Clinical inference
• Clinical decision making

8
Critical Thinking Competencies

• Specific critical thinking competency used in
  nursing practice
• Nursing Process
• Assessment
• Analysis (Nursing Diagnosis)
• Planning
• Implementation
• Evaluation

9
Critical Thinking Model

• The model helps to explain how nurses make
  clinical judgments/ decisions in their clinical
  practice that result in safe, effective, nursing
  care. There are 5 components in this model of
  critical thinking
• Knowledge base
• Experience in nursing
• Critical thinking competencies
• Attitudes for critical thinking
• Standards for critical thinking

10
Critical Thinking Attitudes

• Confidence
• Thinking independently
• Fairness
• Responsibility and accountability
• Risk taking
• Discipline

11
Critical Thinking Attitudes

• Perserverance
• Creativity
• Curosity
• Integrity
• Humility

12
Standards

• Intellectual Standards-
• 14 intellectual standards (Paul,1993) Nurses use
  these when using the nursing process
• 1. Confidence 7. Perseverance
• 2. Independence 8. Creativity
• 3. Fairness 9. Curiosity
• 4. Responsibility 10. Integrity
• 5. Risk taking 11. Humility
• 6. Discipline

13
Standards

• Professional standards
• Sound ethical standards
• When critically thinking must have a sense of
  their own values, beliefs, feelings and their
  clients/ clients familys values, beliefs,
  feelings
• Scientifically based practice with standards
  developed by experts
• Evidenced based practice
• Standards developed as a result of evidence
• These are minimum requirements that are necessary
  to give quality effective care

14
(No Transcript)
15
(No Transcript)