Assessment of learning can be a meaningful tool for teachers and students during a course to provide feedback to the student about the type and quality of work that is being completed in the course and for the instructor to find areas where the student is having difficulties and so additional materials can be provided or the course modified. The aim of this paper is to define assessment and critical thinking skills, and then review a State University course and suggest different assessments that could be used to demonstrate learning. Theoretical Foundations of Nursing will be the course reviewed, as it is the only course I have previously taken, and therefore the only course which I have assess to the curriculum. Critical thinking is recognized by accrediting bodies as an outcome for graduates of bachelor and master’s level programs, but no consensus exits on its definition and measurements (Ali, Bantz, & Siktberg, 2005, p. 90). Some critical thinking “descriptors are: confidence, contextual perspective, flexibility, inquisitiveness, intellectual integrity, intuition, open-mindedness, perseverance, and reflection. In addition, individuals who think critically have the ability to use the cognitive skills of analyzing, applying standards, discriminating, seeking information, reasoning logically, and transforming knowledge (Scheffer & Rubenfeld, 2000) (Ali, Bantz, & Siktberg, 2005, p. 90). Assessment strategies should be integrated into the curriculum so that critical thinking skills can be assessed throughout the course and not just at the end of the course. Critical thinking projects will take concepts from a broad range and apply these to local clinical contexts, “the assignment then challenges the student to reflect/... ... middle of paper ... ...wer/pdfviewer?vid=7&hid=108&sid=23f3c4b8-a97d-452f-ba15-999b53ea73f3%40sessionmgr104 Bassendowski, S., & Salgado, A. (2005). Plagiarism and Assessment Strategies. International Journal of Nursing Education Scholarship, 2(1), 1-15. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=3&hid=17&sid=a1c31d83-a01d-4359-9098-089d5f29be6b%40sessionmgr4 Halstead, J. (2005). Promoting Critical Thinking Through Online Discussion. Annual Review of Nursing Education, 3, 143-162. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=7&hid=17&sid=a1c31d83-a01d-4359-9098-089d5f29be6b%40sessionmgr4 Price, B. (1997). Defining quality student feedback in distance learning. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 26, 154-160. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=8&hid=122&sid=ba204f46-cf36-481b-b357-9df7b66fab8b%40sessionmgr113
Personally I understand that critical thinking is a way of using several concepts to identify solutions and determine a course of action to solve patient’s care problem. Every patient that comes to the hospital is looking up to the health care team to solve the problem with which they are presenting; therefore the nurse must be able to explore all avenues to solve their care problems.
Scully, N 2012, 'Critical Thinking and the Nursing Process' in a Berman, SJ Snyder, T Levett- Jones, T Dwyer, M Hales, N Harvey, Y Luxford, L Moxham, T Park, B Parker, K Reid-Searl & D Stanley, Kozier and Erb's fundamental of nursing, vol. 1, 2nd Australian edn, Pearson, Frenchs Forest, NSW, pp. 204-205.
Throughout this program, this author has learned the various ways critical thinking is utilized in nursing. This applies to developing care maps, Kaplan testing, using the nursing process, medication administration, and patient care. Kaplan testing has been the hardest aspect of thinking critically for this author. However, with practice and remediation, this author has learned how to critically think through the questions in order to choose the best possible answer. In correlation, this author now understands that thinking critically leads to effective, high-quality care and patient outcomes by understanding the needs of patients and treating those patients with evidence-based care.
For instance, critical thinking allows nurses to identify, evaluate and improve practice by bringing about change in response to feedback from various practice experiences.” However, as Gardner (2014), advocating there is a need to shift from focusing on nursing skills as an individual towards participating in a much more holistic critical process encompassing the wider social context. In this way, critical reflection incorporates principles of critical social theory. In addition, critical reflection from an essential social perspective aims to bring forth an awareness of any underlying assumptions so these may be challenged and altered for next time. As Usher and Holmes (2010) write, reflection “offers a way to bring to the surface the contradictions between what you intend to achieve in a situation and how you actually practice”. In addition, critical reflection may assist with advancing nursing practice from the status quo towards actively creating opportunities to change for a better outcome whether that may be during the experience or in the future. Reflective thinking is hypothesis testing, and real-time experimentation done in situations where “wicked problems” occurs that facilitates deeper knowledge and understanding (Rolfe, 2014). For Rolfe (2014), knowledge is a verb, not a noun, and he
Conclusively, critical thinking abilities and expertise apply to thinking, reading, speaking, writing, and listening. Nurses need to decode a thought accurately, clearly, quickly and logically for other people to understand what they are saying or writing without any misunderstanding. Therefore, it undertakes a special individual to be a professional nurse. It undertakes the skill to take a theory, idea or problem, assess it, resolve it, as well as lucidly communicate it. This is one of the challenges of nursing; reflective, critical practice based upon the sound thinking of intellectual minds dedicated to safe, efficient patient care. One cannot assume or guess solutions as, those solutions have to be based upon specific principles, and be able to defend one’s thinking with proof.
According to Bandman & Bandman (1995), critical thinking is defined as the rational examination of ideas, inferences, assumptions, principles, arguments, conclusions, issues, statements, beliefs and actions. In this subject ‘Critical Thinking in Nursing’ has emphasized critical thinking as an essential nursing skill and its definition of critical thinking have evolved over the years. In short, the general definition of critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored and self-corrective thinking. Every nurses must cultivate rigorous standards for critical thinking, however they cannot avoid completely the situatedness and structures of the clinical traditions and practices. They must make decisions and act quickly according to
The article “Promoting the 6Cs of Nursing in Patient Assessment” by Clarke (2014), is one that covers the different elements of patient assessment, how critical thinking is required in assessment and how nurses can integrate caring into their nursing process, primarily during patient assessment. Patient assessment is the first part of the nursing process and requires the nurse to collect objective and subject information for analysis that can be then attributed to a nursing diagnosis (Potter et al., 2014). Even after a diagnosis has been made, nurses must continue to assess and analyze their patients in order to ensure the patient is in good condition and that treatment is going as planned (Potter et al., 2014). In the case of critical thinking, it is “a complex phenomenon that can be defined as a process and as a set of skills” and often focuses on sound logic and reasoning (Potter et al., 2014, p. 141). The definition of Caring differs somewhat depending on the theorist, but in essence it boils down to a concept central to nursing that requires the nurse to support the patient in their health,
Critical thinking and knowledge are the foundation of nursing practice, and the most essential elements in providing quality nursing care. Nu...
Critical thinking in nursing can be viewed and described in many different ways, but in general, has the same effect in nursing situations and outcomes. Authors Wilgis and McConnell believe that critical thinking is a purposeful, analytic understanding, and evaluation of information, that is then used
In conclusion, the educational process should not be simple and repetitive it must include analysis tools to allow for various new interpretations and judgements. A student who is taught to think critically will act accordingly as one of the best abilities which will be created for them to foresee the potential effects of their actions. By having students think critically, they are able to formulate the right questions, evaluate judgements and to formulate their own interpretations based on evidence. Critical thinking in the university environment has a positive impact on grades, retention, future careers and ultimately leads to student empowerment for the future.
Furthermore, the analysis should also include an overview of various applications allowing to discover other areas of concept’s implementation; for example, in “the fields of social and health science, marketing, engineering, business, and theology as an effective education teaching strategy"(Colln- Appling, 2016, p. 107). The next step of the analysis is the identification of the attributes of my researched concept, and that means to expound on characteristics of critical thinking described as problem recognition, clinical decision-making, prioritization, clinical implementation, reflection (Turkel, 2016). With that in mind, the following part of this analysis is to identify a model case which would reflect the complete example of utilization of critical thinking in a clinical setting. That aspect of concept study allows me to remember the recent interaction with one of my patients who called me complaining of feeling weak and dizzy assuming those symptoms were related to his blood sugar level of 195. However, having ten years of experience in emergency
Critical thinking is often described as sets of competencies (Pithers & Soden, 2000). For example, Ennis (1987,1993) offers a taxonomy of critical thinking skills and dispositions to be applied in identifying a problem and its assumptions, and making inferences. Broad dispositions such as a spirit of inquiry, open-mindedness and weighing the credibility of evidence are also very important (Ennis, 1993; Perkins, Jay, & Tishman, 1993) and considered transferable over various domains.
“Critical thinking in nursing is an essential component of professional accountability and quality nursing care” (Masters, 2017, p. 217). Nurses apply critical thinking by using their intellectual reasoning to prevent unsafe practice. It allows nurses to study and interpret the data appropriately to make a judgement about the patient’s condition or the achievement of a particular outcome. The ability for nurses to critically think enhances the coordination of patient care by developing and applying strong clinical skills in a safe, organized environment. It is my belief that I utilize critical thinking skills to reflect on the implications and consequences of circumstances that may arise during a problem or to understand a patient’s condition
-Utilized critical thinking skills to the nursing process: assessed conditions, demonstrated effective decision making, implemented appropriate interventions, anticipated potential complications, and evaluated care outcomes
Critical thinking is a significant and essential topic in recent education. The strategy of critical thinking skills helps identify areas in one's courses as the suitable place to highlight, expand and use some problems in exams that test students' critical thinking skills.