Critical thinking....

RedCell · Mar 17, 2009

i want to prepair my self for nursing school early, i was wondering if there are any nursing books orwhat not that can put me in the mode of "thinking critically like a nurse" and just a good source that will get me in this critical state of mind some what and prepair me for the material a little bit.

Dude, just enjoy the time you have now before nursing school. It is not that nursing school is extremely difficult, it is just time consuming. "Critical thinking" is like common sense. Either you have it or you don't. Nursing school can improve this, however I do not think they can teach it. There is nothing really to prepare for.

leslie :-D · Mar 17, 2009

honestly, wait til you're done with your first year in school.

after that, you will appreciate everything the nursing process entails, and critical thinking scenarios will make more sense.

best of everything to you.

leslie

rockstarjk · Mar 17, 2009

It's hard to learn how to critically think like a nurse if you don't have the background medical and health science knowledge to go with it. :)

ERjodiRN · Mar 17, 2009

personally i think the most important thing to critical thinking...outside of knowing how to prioritize.....is pathophysiology. you can't really critically think too well unless you have a good knowledge of how the body and it's diseases/systems work. the more fluent you are in that, the better your critical thinking skills will be.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Mar 17, 2009

I went to a class by these people during my second to last semester in nursing school. Their advice/program works for new nursing students though. Get the book, give it a good read.

www.statnursing.org

This, above all other NCLEX prep. books got me to be a first time pass student. The principals they teach apply to nursing school tests too though. Its a good starting point.

jaf0066 · Mar 17, 2009

TCLA:

Critical thinking is to thought process as running is to crawling.

It is based on drawing from disparate bits of information from which one may infer a supposition and then thoughtfully apply one's thinking process to predict outcomes and evaluate accordingly.

Allow yourself to crawl, walk and then run. There is a natural order to things. The nursing process is based on this natural order. It is comprised of assessment, problem identification, outcome identification, intervention (that, which one will do to elicit the desired outcome) , evaluation and ultimately, reassessment. It is a big circle. Information is power and like any powerful tool, you must learn to master it.

Finally, as one other writer posted, everyone has a basis of thought and critical thinking. Each is blessed according to his gifts in this regard. Some will have more work to do to hone this skill, than others.

I bid you good travels on your journey, and as the Irish say, may the road rise to meet your feet along the way.

Namaste,

Jamie

BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN · Mar 17, 2009

Like the others said,..critical thinking is a way of using the knowledge you have, with out the knowledge it is kind of hard to anticipate needs, expect certain outcomes, or draw conclusions. The more your knowledge base builds the better you critical thinking skills,.usually. I will admit that I know some very educated people who have no critical thinking skills.

Logic type problems or "puzzles" are a good way to start "thinking outside the

box". I had a nursing instructor who gave us a different scenario every Monday to "ponder" all week. We were allowed to ask yes/no questions and to hear all the yes/no questions asked by others in the room,.we were told the solution on friday. It was a neat way to make us think.

Saifudin · Mar 17, 2009

Critical thinking (CT) has theoretical components but often theory and reality are two different things. CT is done by everyone. When I explain it to my nurses I use vacation planning as an analogy as I work overseas and my foreign nurses live for the annual vacation and start planning months in advance. Their nursing level is low so this analogy works.

I explain how they plan their vacation and the many steps involved. Checking available flights, checking if the time they want is open in their unit, things they have to buy to take home, how much money they will need to get through the off time, getting the visas, etc. It can be a job here. Now, look at the steps taken and apply that kind of thinking/planning purposefully in the work place. Then, it starts to click.

Don't worry about this now. If you want to get a jump, start reviewing basics of nursing, maybe the sciences you will study, the language of nursing (new words, etc.). CT, problem solving and decision making are things that come during actual work and career.

OB6658 · Mar 17, 2009

Also, critical thinking comes with experience...the more you work with patients and their problems...you gain experience into that area. Take your time and learn the basics first, the rest will fall into place as you experience it and are able to put it all together.

lamazeteacher · Mar 18, 2009

If English isn't your first language, it would be good to look up words in the dictionary, for spelling and meaning. Prepare has no i. Nurses have to make notes that demonstrate that they are professionals, with good language skills.

Also medical terminology can be difficult to learn, along with everything else. Taber's " " is the oldest book and very reliable for that. Whilke you're enthusiastic and want to get in on how things are said medically, it won't be hard.

Please accept my wishes for a successful future.