Critical Thinking: Toward a Nursing Science Perspective

Abstract

Critical thinking is an important phenomenon in nursing science because of its implications for education, practice, and the advancement of nursing knowledge. As a context-dependent, evolving life process, critical thinking appears to be congruent with assumptions and principles of SUHB. Thus, it may be asserted that critical thinking arises within the mutual process of human and environment and thus is a pattern manifestation of the human-environment field process. Before this assertion can be fully accepted, however, much investigation is needed. Nurse scholars are called upon to re-examine critical thinking and to consider possibilities that, until now, have been neglected or unimagined. To date, the positivistic view of critical thinking has yielded limited information. Nurse scientists, therefore, have an opportunity to extend and refine knowledge of critical thinking by embarking upon new and exciting avenues of discovery.

Putting the pieces together: teaching undergraduate research from a theoretical perspective

“…Thirty‐six percentage of the students commented on the role modelling of the Instructor. Their comments are supported by Hicks (2001), who mentioned the importance of critical thinking being modelled by teachers engaged in practice. In validation, Chenoweth (1998) noted that teachers must model higher order thinking and help students work ‘through new and difficult learning processes and revisit them in different ways until learning occurs’ (p. 291).…”

Knowledge mobilized by a critical thinking process deployed by nursing students in practical care situations: a qualitative study

“…Various authors indicate that major intellectual processes are involved in practical care situations and stress the need for an in‐depth study (Nelms & Lane 1999, Hicks 2001). Some researchers suggest furthering our understanding of critical thinking and its contribution to the contextualized mobilization of knowledge, specifically, from a nursing perspective (Baker 2002, Rycroft‐Malone et al.…”

“…The qualitative studies provide limited information on the concept of critical thinking. They do not present a clear definition representing a holistic point of view or a dynamic vision of the integration of the various types of knowledge used by nurses (Hicks 2001). The role of critical thinking in the mobilization of various types of knowledge in a healthcare situation is not described in these studies (Gross Forneris 2005).…”

Relationship between Fidelity and Dose of Human Patient Simulation, Critical Thinking Skills, and Knowledge in an Associate Degree Nursing Program

“…Although professional organizations have identified that the higher order thinking skills of clinical reasoning, clinical decision-making, and clinical judgments are required for nurses to provide safe, quality nursing care; critical thinking skills are recognized as the foundation and underlying skill necessary for appropriate decision-making and formation of clinical judgments (AACN, 2008;NLN, 2000;. Therefore, critical thinking is seen as the broad umbrella that serves as the cognitive engine that drives diagnostic reasoning, clinical decision-making, problem solving, and clinical judgment in nursing (Hicks, 2001).…”

“…Evidence based practice and the use of critical thinking have been identified by the NLN as providing the foundation for appropriate clinical decision-making. As a result, critical thinking can be seen as a common thread throughout the curricula of most nursing educational programs (AACN, 2008;Daly, 1998;Hicks, 2001;Jones & Brown, 1991;Patterson, Crooks, & Lunyk-Child, 2002;Paul, 1995;Simpson & Courtney, 2002;Su & Juestel, 2010).…”