critical thinking examples

Any situation where we question or figure out stuff is critical thinking. Post-op patient is tachycardic with HR 118. Nurse knows to check his bp (that alone is critical thinking). If his Bp is low, she might think, hey could he be a little shocky due to hypovlemia? and may then look at other factors like u/o, skin, labs, etc. But if his BP was high she might consider pain, fever, etc...

Just think about the stuff you do in nursing every day.... Nursing is nothing if it's not critical thinking.... That is our main job!

I agree that critical thinking should be happening all the time ... in our daily events. When I am working with students (or any nurses for that matter) and trying to help them learn to think ... I try to incorporate events that happened to them TODAY ... decisions they had to make about being a student, being a parent, being a nurse, being an employee ... whatever. That way, the example is always something that is current and fresh and important to them at the moment.

I take their current decisions and force them to think about how/where they got information... how they prioritized ... what factors did they consider ...etc. Help them to develop critical thinking skills by "exercising" those skills in day-to-day decisions. I tell them that working their brain and learning intellectual skills is much like becoming physically fit. As you work a muscle, it becomes stronger ... and the same thing can happen with the "mental muscles." So I encourage them to develop the habit of using their intellectual muscles all the time (and not just with patient care examples) to build up those muscles and develop good intellectual habits over time.

You both have helped me to make teaching the nursing process ADPIE to new student nurses a little more interesting. I am appreciative!