To Think or not to Think: That is the Question

To Think or not to Think: That is the Question

As a graduate nurse student, it has become very clear to me that nursing may not be about thinking. It may be about habits, or time constraints, or work load but not about the intellectual process that should be the foundation of the profession. Here is a post I made recently responding to the idea that we should not teach critical thinking to 2 year associate degree nursing students. They have to much to do...

Nursonator Reply:

 I would disagree with you on discarding altogether the intellectual development of the 2 year nurse. In fact, that is already the case in most nursing schools critical thinking development has forgotten, if ever even understood by instructors, and therefore not passed on to students. Studies show that it isn’t just nursing schools that aren’t capable of fostering critical thinkers.  Paul et al (1997) research  demonstrated as follows: “Faculty aspire to develop students’ thinking skills, but research consistently shows that in practice we tend to aim at facts and concepts in the disciplines, at the lowest cognitive levels, rather than development of intellect or values.".

The first two years of nursing education should be heavily tilted toward teaching in a manner that fosters critical thinking. But as research is showing, educators need to be effective critical thinkers themselves, which they aren’t. Paul’s research demonstrated 89% of faculty critical thinking was primary objective; of that cohort only 19% could give a clear explanation of what critical thinking is; and only 9% were demonstrating a ability to teach for critical thinking in the classroom.

So, I don’t think we need to worry about the 2 year student learning critical thinking