Critical Thinking Potentials of Post Graduate Nursing Students

INTRODUCTION

Thinking is a very complex process, it refers to the ideational components of mental activity which include process used to imagine, appraise, evaluate, forecast, plan, create and motivate.¹

Critical thinking is a part of the intellectual skill which is required to make sound clinical judgment in every day nursing practice^.2 As nurses roles change in response to the dynamics of managed care and an increase in use of biotechnology in health care, more is expected of them both in terms of psychomotor and cognitive skills³ . Critical thinking has been identified as essential for development of knowledge and nurses need critical thinking to be safe, competent and skillful practitioners in their profession. The pace of knowledge development demands that, nurses need to be critical thinkers. Expertise in nursing exists when the nurse has developed the ability to use appropriate nursing knowledge and skilled judgments in delivering patient care.²

Critical thinking skills and behaviours are the most highly sought characteristics of graduate nurses and they remain the most difficult to teach and to assess. With this background in mind, the study was designed to determine the critical thinking potentials of post graduate nursing students in a South Indian population.

The study aims to assess the critical thinking potentials of post graduate nursing students at Rani Meyyammai College of Nursing, Chidambaram, Tamilnadu.

METHODOLOGY

A quantitative research approach and non experimental exploratory research design were used for the study. The investigator selected a sample of 41 M.Sc nursing students using a convenient sampling technique. Students who were willing to participate and aged between 25 and 60 years were included. Setting of the study was Rani Meyyammai College of Nursing, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. The tool consisted of two parts,, part one included items related to Socio demographic characteristics such as age, gender, educational qualification and years of experience. Part two was a Critical Thinking Potential Questionnaire.It consisted of 10 structured questionnaires. Each questionnaire had two options i.e., yes / no. Each correct answer carried one mark and wrong answer carried zero mark. The reliability of tool was established by test retest method. Obtained r value was 0.79. Prior to the data collection, formal written permission was taken from the Principal, Rani Meyyammai College of Nursing, Annamalai University, Chidambaram. Informed written consent was taken from each student. The data was collected by using self-administered critical thinking potential questionnaire.

RESULTS

I. Description of demographic characteristics of MSc nursing students

Table 1 shows that majority of the MSc Nursing students 34(82.9%) were below 30 years of age, all the respondents were female (100%). 

II. Description of MSc nursing students response on critical thinking potentials Table 2 shows the students response on critical thinking potentials.

Out of 41, 37 (90.2%) of them were willing to do the work which required to think critically, 40(97.6%) were confident in their ability to reason.Thirty six (87.8%) of the students had effective communication skill, 37(90.2%) of them used problem solving method effectively and 38 (92.7%) students were aware of their usual habits of thinking. Among all the participants, 36 (87.8%) students were opened to new ideas which were differed from their critical thinking and 35 (85.4%) students felt secure when they asked for clarification. Thirty four (82.9%) of them had the habit of examining own beliefs and values which affect their critical thinking, 37 (90.2%) of them had effective reading and learning skill and 27 (65.9%) students were not able to ignore their personal desires and beliefs.

III. Association of level of critical thinking potentials of students and their selected demographic variables:

Among the demographic variables analyzed in this study there was no significant association at p 0.05 between the ages, experience and critical thinking potentials ofstudents which was statistically confirmed with Cramer’s ‘v’ test.

DISCUSSION

The result of the study confirms that nursing students needs to be encouraged to develop critical thinking abilities that help to adapt new ideas and make competent decisions. The study findings are supported by a study conducted to measure the dimensions of critical thinking of baccalaureate nursing students and registered nurses at Japan. The results revealed that both groups had an ambivalent disposition towards critical thinking in majority of subscale and one way ANOVA indicated that registered nurses scored lower than other two groups of baccalaureate students on the total score and several sub scale score.⁴

The current health care environment is placing increasing demands on nursing educators to prepare graduates who are able to think critically and solve problem in a variety of clinical practice areas. Patients in acute care are more complex and their lengths of stay are getting shorter and shorter. In addition, cost-cutting measures by health care institutions often means that fewer professionals are available to do the job; this leaves less time for the nurse to “get to know” the patient.

The demands of the health care environment, coupled with the need to “get to know” the patient, suggest the outcome criteria for nursing education need to emphasize the development of critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Critical thinking is an essential skill for nurses who practice in complex health care systems. It is recommended that faculty become well informed with problem based learning and initiate the changes consistently.

CONCLUSION

Critical thinking is rational and reasonable reflection aimed at improving practice contextually. Through the use of critical thinking, nursing students will demonstrate greater independence of mind, intellectual curiosity, courage, humility, empathy, integrity, perseverance, faith in reason and fair mindedness at the end of their training. The nurse educators  can review their teaching and assessment methods and institute those that facilitate critical thinking skills and dispositions. Further, the students can be encouraged to take ownership of their learning process and change to a studentcentered approach, whereby students are taught how to think and what not to think.