Marija Truš

Critical thinking of nursing students: developing an essential skill

Critical thinking of nursing students: developing an essential skill

Marija Truš

Klaipeda University,

Lithuania

Introduction. Critical thinking is one of the competencies necessary for nurses to effectively manage complex care needs in a rapidly changing environment. The effect of nursing education on the development of students’ critical thinking has been studied by many researchers. Critical thinking skills are an expected outcome of nursing education programmes.

The purpose of the present study was to identify the issues related to the development of critical thinking skills in nursing students. The research questions were: 1. How is critical thinking defined from a nursing perspective? 2. Are there specific teaching strategies that can be used to develop critical thinking in nursing students? 3. What factors contribute to the development of critical thinking skills in nursing students?

Methodology. A descriptive review was conducted to examine the literature and assess the existing knowledge about the critical thinking of nursing students. The literature search was performed using several keywords in different combinations on electronic databases. The studies were identified, screened, and excluded or included in the review.

Results. Critical thinking is a multidimensional concept. The strategies for teaching critical thinking include using frameworks to guide teaching, concept mapping, problem-based learning, guided reflective discussions of critical incidents, simulation-based learning, and the Socratic method. There is evidence of relationships between critical thinking ability and factors such as age, gender, academic year, academic achievement, and learning styles of nursing students.

Conclusions. Critical thinking is one of the basic skills in the clinical reasoning process in healthcare and is therefore essential to its development in nursing students during their education programmes. Critical thinking is a key element for making progress in evidence-based practice and providing safe patient-centred care.

Keywords: critical thinking; nursing student; nursing education; skill; competence

References

1. Boso, K. M., van der Merwe, A.S., Gross, J. (2020). Critical thinking skills of nursing students: observations of classroom instructional activities. Nursing Open, 7:581–588. doi: 10.1002/nop2.426
2. Jimenez, J.-M., Lopez, M., Castro, M.-J., Martin-Gil, B., Cao, M.-J., Fernandez-Castro, M. (2021). Development of critical thinking skills of undergraduate students throughout the 4 years of nursing degree at a public university in Spain: a descriptive study. BMJ Open, 11. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2021-049950
3. Kazemi, N., Beigmoradi, S., Farmitani, Z., Ghorbani, F., Jamalinasab, A., Poor, N.H. (2022). The effect of problem-solving-based learning on critical thinking skills of nursing students. Journal of Health Reports and Technology, 8(4). https://doi.org/10.5812/jhrt-133327
4. Mousazadeh, N., Momennasab, M., Nia, H.S., Nazari, R., Hajihosseini, F. (2021). Effective factors in critical thinking disposition in nursing students. Education Research International, 2021. https://doi.org/10.1155/2021/5580010

Biography

Marija Truš is an Associate professor at Klaipeda University Faculty of Health Sciences Department of Nursing, LithuaniaMarija Truš received her Ph.D. degree in Health Sciences (Nursing) from the University of Tampere, Finland. In September 2020, she became an associate professor at the Department of Nursing, at Klaipeda University, Lithuania. She teaches several courses on nursing methodology to bachelor and master students. She is the author or coauthor of several papers in national and international refereed journals. During the last 5 years, she supervised 30 students at the bachelor’s and master’s level. Her research interest includes nursing education, nursing competencies, and empowerment of nurses. She is the chair of the Ethics Committee at the Department of Nursing, Klaipeda University, Lithuania.