Indrė Čergelytė-Podgrušienė

The Importance of Critical Thinking in the Development of Practical Skills in Nursing Students

Vilnius University, Faculty of Medicine,

Institute of Health Sciences, Department of Nursing,

Lithuania

Critical thinking is a skill that allows individuals to properly assess the information being received and choose what is important and appropriate. Critical thinking is essential for nursing students because many students are not good at solving problems, tend to learn without selecting information, do not differentiate the vital from the trivial, and lack intrinsic motivation to think. Therefore, it is necessary for students studying in nursing programmes to think critically, that is, to critically analyse and assess situations and problems, argue, draw reasonable conclusions, and independently make decisions and take responsibility for them. All of this helps students to learn successfully and to develop mature, thoughtful, independent, proactive individuals, who can adapt to understanding challenges and real situations.

The importance of critical thinking for nursing students during classes will be analysed during the presentation, and active learning methods that help nursing students critically think and engage with various nursing situations will be discussed.

Keywords: education; critical thinking; nursing students; methods

Biography:

Indrė Čergelytė-Podgrušienė holds the position of an assistant at the Department of Nursing, Institute of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Vilnius University. With 5 years of experience working with students, she employs active and critical thinking training methods in her teaching. She believes that developing critical thinking is essential for understanding, interpreting, discovering, and comprehending various situations and problems, which are crucial in nursing sciences. Her research interests include patient education, environments for the development of health competences in children with diabetes mellitus and their education, nursing of patients with diabetes mellitus, control of diabetes mellitus and surgical nursing.