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Nursing and Health Care

Critical thinking is essential to skilled nursing and is therefore essential to nursing education. It is interesting to note that the ANA (American Nursing Association) Standards have set forth the framework necessary for critical thinking in the application of the “nursing process." Unfortunately this framework can be executed superficially or substantively, as can any such framework. We believe that skilled nursing depends upon a well-reasoned philosophy of nursing rooted in a deep and rich conception of critical thinking.

Intuitive nursing practice (which is still the norm in nursing), when performed automatically, without care, vigilance, and routine critique, can result in many significant negative implications. The student nurse develops intuitive, skillful performance in nursing by first learning the tools of critical thinking, and then routinely applying reflective, critical thought in routine nursing situations. Through this deliberate and disciplined process, student nurses gradually increase their expertise in reasoning as reliable professionals ensuring quality client care. To think critically through the myriad problems and issues in nursing requires command of the elements of thought and the universal intellectual standards. It requires the development, over time, of intellectual traits and dispositions. And it requires understanding the obstacles to critical thought (that result primarily from egocentric and sociocentric thought). 

An Introduction to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools

The following articles focus on a number of foundational concepts in critical thinking and though not specifically focused on nursing education, are nevertheless relevant to all instruction which aims at the development of critical thinking.






Please do not pass this message by.

CRITICAL THINKING IS AT RISK.

Here are some of the big reasons why:

  1. Many people believe that critical thinking should be free and that scholars qualified to teach critical thinking should do so for free. Accordingly, they do not think they should have to pay for critical thinking textbooks, courses, or other resources when there is "so much free material online" - despite how erroneous that material may be.
  2. There are many misguided academicians, and some outright charlatans, pushing forth and capitalizing on a pseudo-, partial, or otherwise impoverished concept of critical thinking.
  3. Little to no funding is designated for critical thinking professional development in schools, colleges, or universities, despite the lip service widely given to critical thinking (as is frequently found in mission statements).
  4. Most people, including faculty, think they already know what critical thinking is, despite how few have studied it to any significant degree, and despite how few can articulate a coherent, accurate, and sufficiently deep explanation of it.
  5. People rarely exhibit the necessary level of discipline to study and use critical thinking for reaching higher levels of self-actualization. In part, this is due to wasting intellectual and emotional energy on fruitless electronic entertainment designed to be addictive and profitable rather than educational and uplifting.
  6. On the whole, fairminded critical thinking is neither understood, fostered, nor valued in educational institutions or societies.
  7. People are increasingly able to cluster themselves with others of like mind through alluring internet platforms that enable them to validate one another's thinking - even when their reasoning is nonsensical, lopsided, prejudiced, or even dangerous.
  8. Critical thinking does not yet hold an independent place in academia. Instead, "critical thinking" is continually being "defined" and redefined according to any academic area or instructor that, claiming (frequently unsupported) expertise, steps forward to teach it.

As you see, increasingly powerful trends against the teaching, learning, and practice of critical thinking entail extraordinary challenges to our mission. To continue our work, we must now rely upon your financial support. If critical thinking matters to you, please click here to contribute what you can today.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO CONTINUE OUR WORK.

Thank you for your support of ethical critical thinking.