Critical Thinking Skills for Nurses

The article focuses on exploring the current state of scientific knowledge on nursing students' critical thinking, namely in clinical teaching settings and enabling environments to stimulate students' reflection, creativity, and confidence, as well as to develop and implement innovative strategies that promote critical thinking skills.

Analysis of 20 research studies of critical thinking in nursing, 1977-1995, found that the Watson Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal was used in 18. There was no consistent evidence that nursing education increases critical thinking. Research design flaws, inconsistent definition of critical thinking, and lack of an appropriate measurement tool are possible causes.

The objectives of this study were to determine the extent to which clinician-educators agree on definitions of critical thinking and to determine whether their descriptions of critical thinking in clinical practice are consistent with these definitions.