Critical Thinking and the Nursing Process

Analysing complex data about patients, making decisions about problems, identifying a range of possible interventions and deciding on the most appropriate are all integral aspects of nursing practice. Nurses today must be informed and inquisitive and base their practice on high quality evidence. Although critical thinking has many definitions, one of the most useful for nursing is from the North American National League for Nursing (2000): 'Critical thinking in nursing practice is a discipline specific, reflective reasoning process that guides a nurse in generating, implementing, and evaluating approaches for dealing with client care and professional concerns' (p. 2). The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (2008) national competency standards indicate the need for registered nurses and midwives to be able to think critically about client care and to have the skills to contribute to the evidence-based practice framework through research and to apply research to their practice.