Critical Thinking in Nursing

All nursing regulatory bodies and associations cite the importance of active, critical thinking in all clinical contexts. Nursing is not a profession of complacency. In your undergraduate experience, you will have direction and opportunities to practice you critical thinking, clinical reasoning, and clinical judgement skills in all nursing courses. There is a clear connection between knowledge and knowing, critical thinking and the application of such knowledge into the role of the nurse, as seen below (Raymond-Seniuk & Profetto McGrath, 2017).

Nursing care and practice comes from thinking about and identifying knowledge from a nursing encounter, considering the nursing role, and considering the broader context to promote action.

Critical Thinking Indicators

From Rosalinda Alfaro-Lefevre (2019), personal critical thinking indicators offer an opportunity to reflect on your current thinking patterns.

Engaging and questioning your current practice is a form of self-reflection. Honest and ongoing evaluation of your own progress is a necessity in nursing. Self-reflection can be fostered by asking yourself the following questions: What am I doing well? How am I doing well? What might I benefit from improving or changing? How might I go about doing so?

Reflecting on your own values, assumptions, biases, and thinking are effective ways to improve the quality of your thinking.