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Concepts for Lecture
1. Critical thinking is essential to safe, competent, skillful nursing
decision making into a complex process.
2.
The top 10 reasons to improve thinking include: things change and will
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Describe the actions of clinical reasoning in the implementation of the
nursing process.
Concepts for Lecture
1. The nurse might benefit from a rigorous personal assessment to de-
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for nurses to improve their thinking.
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Give situations where routine actions may be
inadequate to deal with these situations. Ask
the students to discuss how critical thinking
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Administer a critical thinking inventory
to the students. Discuss how knowledge of one’s
own style can be useful.
•
• Develop a list of controversial issues
in health care (e.g., abortion, euthanasia, with-
holding fluids and food at the end of life). Ask
48 CHAPTER 10 / Critical Thinking and Nursing Practice
Nurses should increase their tolerance for ideas that contradict
previously held beliefs and then should practice suspending
judgment.
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Discuss the attitudes and skills needed to develop critical thinking and
clinical reasoning.
Concepts for Lecture
In inductive reasoning, generalizations are formed from a set of
facts or observations. Inductive reasoning moves from specific ex-
amples (premises) to generalized conclusions—for example, from
clinical signs and symptoms to diagnosis. Deductive reasoning is
be in error.
Evaluating the credibility of information sources is an important
step in critical thinking because not all sources are accurate or relia-
2. Critical thinkers have certain attitudes, including independence, fair–
mindedness, insight, intellectual humility, intellectual courage,
integrity, perseverance, confidence, and curiosity.
Critical thinking requires that individuals think for themselves,
examine a wide range of ideas, learn from them, and make their own
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Ask the nurse administrator on the unit to discuss
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• Ask the students to describe individuals they
know who demonstrate one or more of the criti-
cal thinking attitudes. How do they believe this
influences the person’s actions?
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Ask the students to share situations in which they
have used trial and error in problem solving.
Discuss reasons why trial and error may or may
CHAPTER 10 / Critical Thinking and Nursing Practice 49
With an attitude of courage, one is willing to consider and exam-
ine fairly one’s own ideas or views, especially those to which one
find a quick and easy answer.
Critical thinkers believe that well-reasoned thinking will lead to
trustworthy conclusions. They cultivate an attitude of confidence in
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Describe the components of clinical reasoning.
Concepts for Lecture
1. There is a relationship between the following: nursing process, criti-
3. The problem–solving process is obtaining information that clarifies
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• In order to assist students to recognize the differ-
ences and similarities among critical thinking,
another piece in the classroom, keep one piece,
and so on, so that there is a problem to be solved.
Divide the students into groups and ask each
group to complete the puzzles. Have one group
member record the process used to complete the
puzzles, focusing on critical thinking skills and
attitudes, problem solving, and decision-making
steps. Have each group report findings to the
class. Use the findings as a basis to discuss these
processes and critical thinking.
text (Figure 10–1) may provide a starting
50 CHAPTER 10 / Critical Thinking and Nursing Practice
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Integrate strategies to enhance critical thinking and clinical reasoning as the
provider of nursing care.
Concepts for Lecture
1. When a nurse uses intentional thinking, a relationship develops among
2. Problem solving requires the nurse to obtain information that clarifies
the nature of the problem and suggests possible solutions. The nurse
3. One way to solve problems is through trial and error, in which a number
of approaches are tried until a solution is found. The use of trial-and-
4. Intuition is a problem-solving approach that relies on a nurse’s inner
sense. It is a legitimate aspect of a nursing judgment in the
implementation of care. Intuition is the understanding or learning of
5. Attitudes that foster critical thinking include: independence, fair–
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Describe the process of concept mapping to enhance critical thinking and
clinical reasoning for the provision of nursing care.
Concepts for Lecture
1. Concept mapping is a technique that uses a graphic depiction of
nonlinear and linear relationships to represent critical thinking. Also
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