Critical Thinking & New Nurses

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Hey All! I currently am employed at a hospital with what I feel is a high turnover rate. I am a med/surg nurse so I know its fairly common. I have my BSN and my GEM III. (Going the extra mile, its a program our hospital has to encourage continuing education and advancements for nurses). My boss approached me with a project for my GEM IV. She would like me to teach a course on critical thinking and how new nurses can start putting things together with their patients and their symptoms. I guess I'm just looking for advice or different ways to go about this.

Thanks!!

Kendra

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I have no idea what a GEMIV is... is this part of a career ladder?

If you are looking for an engaging way to focus on critical thinking, I KNOW - this is probably going to cause everyone to groan because it is associated with nursing school, but I highly recommend using concept mapping. There are many different software programs you can use that will allow you to create a concept map 'on the fly' as you lead participants through the process... some are even free. I like Buzan's Mind Map.

As you lead participants through the mapping process for a common issue, you are showing them all the interrelated facets of what may appear to be a very simple clinical problem... You can show them how each factor influences the others. This is the essence of critical thinking - analyzing the 'known' and 'unknown' - figuring out whether you need any additional information to make a decision - anticipating what may happen next . . . This works best when you create the map based upon information your participants provide... just nudging them a bit when they leave something out. A lot more fun than just sitting and staring at a PowerPoint slide and listening to you talk.

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