Here are some strategies for you to use to improve your critical thinking:

• Clarify your thinking. Summarize in your own words what others have said.
• Stick to the point. Look out for fragmented thinking, or thinking that leaps about with no logical connection.
• Value questions. Listen to how your patients ask questions, when they ask questions, and when they do not ask questions. You must also ask questions in order to understand and effectively deal with your environment. A well-cultivated critical thinker is able to both raise vital questions and formulate them clearly.

Source: Stressed Out: About Your First Year of Nursing, HCPro, Inc., 2006. For more information on our series of Stressed Out books, visit www.stressedoutnurses.com