Critical thinking is vital because it directs us in providing safe, competent care. Nurses who possess critical thinking skills make a difference in decreasing hospitals stays and producing good patient outcomes. The nurse who uses his or her head versus just his or her hands is of value to any organization.

For you to become a critical thinker, you must first answer the following questions. Be honest in your evaluation:

• What have you learned about how you think?
• What do you know about how to analyze, evaluate, or reconstruct your thinking?
• Where does your thinking come from? How much of it is based on past modes of thinking versus new, “out-of-the-box” thinking?
• How much of your thinking is vague, muddled, inaccurate, illogical, or superficial?
• Have you ever discovered a problem in your thinking and then changed it?

Source: Stressed Out About Your First Year of Nursing, HCPro Inc., 2006. For more information on this book or to order your copy today, click here.