From a Nursing Diploma to a Bachelor’s Degree: Critical Thinking

Abstract

The demands of decision-making in nursing practice require nurses to make sound judgements in a complex and rapidly changing healthcare environment. Critical thinking (CT) is an essential component of the repertoire of skills nurses must develop to meet these changing demands. Findings from studies conducted in developed countries recommend further research to explore educational strategies to teach CT. Nursing education in Kenya is primarily delivered using traditional teacher-centred strategies. Although nursing programmes seek to develop CT skills in nursing graduates, research in Kenya has not yet provided evidence of the learning and application of CT skills in practice. Research that illustrates how CT is learned is essential for curriculum review enabling faculties to develop innovative student-centred teaching strategies. This study illuminates how nurses described CT and their preferred learning strategies for developing CT skills. A qualitative descriptive design was adopted with a purposive sample of seven diploma-bachelor graduates. Using an interview guide, the researchers conducted one-on-one semi-structured interviews. Content analysis was done to identify themes emerging from the data. Two themes emerged from the data: description of CT, and acquiring CT knowledge. The results of this study demonstrate that CT definition is highly discipline-specific and recommends student-centred strategies as more effective in developing CT skills. The findings indicate that nurses’ ability to engage in CT is promoted when nurse educators use learning strategies that actively engage students in the application of knowledge.

Clinical judgement in nursing – An evolutionary concept analysis

“…The expectation is that nurses make safe clinical judgements about patient care; however, this requires complex decisions to be made in a continually challenging healthcare environment (Kassaman & Corlett, 2019). Nurses' development of clinical judgement is crucial because it guides appropriate nursing diagnoses, clinical decisionmaking and health outcomes (Benner, 1984;Seidi et al, 2015).…”

“…Critical thinking is a cognitive process used to examine observation and data and is required by nurses to meet the changing demands of a complex healthcare environment (Kassaman & Corlett, 2019). Critical thinking is a construct that was developed from an abstract concept to a practical and relevant process expected of nursing professionals (Papathanasiou et al, 2014).…”

“…Reflection and reasoning to formulate action is an important element of higher order thinking and is closely aligned within the concept of critical thinking. Consequently, at times, critical thinking involves suspension of judgement, an evaluation and critical appraisal, and is oriented towards making decisions about many situations encountered daily (Kassaman & Corlett, 2019).…”

“…The Rodgers' evolutionary concept analysis framework (Rodgers & Knafl, 2000 Critical thinking is a cognitive process used to examine observation and data and is required by nurses to meet the changing demands of a complex healthcare environment (Kassaman & Corlett, 2019).…”