THINKING
POWER
Objectives
• 1. Define critical thinking.
• 2. State how critical thinking is
essential to nursing practice.
• 3. Identify strategies that will facilitate the
development of critical and creative
thinking skills.
Successful Intelligence depends on 3 thinking skills:
practical
analytical
THINKING
SKILLS
creative
CRITICAL THINKING
(Analytical thinking)
What is it?
The ability to reason
More than just recall
The ability to apply knowledge
Being innovative
Critical/Analytical
thinking is:
when you take in information, examine the
information by asking questions about it,
and then put it to use in one or more of the
following ways:
•
•
•
•
•
Problem solving
Making decisions
Reasoning
Opening your mind to new things
Planning strategically
A Path to Critical/Analytical
Thinking
Take in information
Ask questions
Use information
Taking in information
• This is your raw material
• It involves:
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–
–
–
–
Recall
Input from what you hear
What you see
What you read
What you experience
Ask questions????
• ?what, when, where, why
• ?What effect does this info have
• ?How is this similar/different from what I
know
More Questions??
• ?will this information help solve a problem
or make a decision
• ?is this fact or opinion
Questioning is the key to linking what you
learn to other information
Learning exercise
It’s 3 am in the hospital and Ms. Avon, the nurse,
sees a patient’s overhead room light on. She walks
into the room and says, ”Hi, Mr. Trent, I noticed
your light on. How are you doing?”
The patient smiles and says. “I’m fine.”
The nurse observes that there are wads of used
tissues on the floor; the sheets are all twisted; Mr.
Trent’s eyes are puffy and red.
Conclusions
• The patient is fine, is normally awake at this
hour, and may have been rubbing his eyes
because of his allergies
• The patient is fine but can’t sleep because
he napped all day. His eyes are always red
and puffy
• The patient is not fine but doesn't want to
talk about it
• The patient is not fine but doesn’t know
how to ask for help.
Using Information
This is evident by:
• What you say
• What you do
• What you write
• What you create
Using information
Put what you learn to work by:
Problem solving
Making decisions
Strategic planning
Reasoning
Seeing new perspectives
How do we use “CT” in Nursing?
• Analyzing: separating or breaking a whole
into parts to discover their nature, function a
relationship
• Applying standards: judging according to
established personal, professional, or social
rules or criteria
• Discriminating: recognizing differences and
similarities among thing or situations and
distinguishing care fully as to category or rank
• Information seeking: searching for evidence, facts,
or knowledge by identifying relevant sources and
gathering objective, subjective historical , and
current data from those sources
• Logical reasoning: drawing inference or
conclusion that are supported in or justified
by evidence
• Predicting: envisioning a plan and its
consequences
• Transferring knowledge: changing or
converting the condition, nature, form or
function of concepts among contexts
SUMMARY
• REMEMBER THE COMPONENTS OF
CRITICAL/ANALYTICAL THINKING
• IT IS A SKILL THAT TAKES PRACTICE
- KEY COMPONENTS FOR NURSES
1) OBSERVATION
2) MAKING CONNECTIONS
3) QUESTIONING
Bloom’s taxonomy
Knowledge – remembering facts, names, events, rote recall
Comprehension –putting information into your own words
Application – taking learned information and using it in a new situation
Analysis – examining or breaking down the parts of information
Synthesis – combining pieces of information to create a larger and
newer piece of information
Evaluation – assessing or judging the worth of information
CREATIVE THINKING
• Creativity forms a bridge between analytical
and practical thinking
Practical thinking
CREATIVITY
Analytical thinking
Creative Strategies
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Brainstorming
Shift your perspective
Take a risk
Set the stage
– Be curious
– Be spontaneous
1. Information
Received
2.Critical thinkers use
information
by applying,
analyzing, synthesizing,
or evaluating it.
Creative thinkers are problem
solvers who broadened their thinking
by becoming aware of more
possibilities
3.Problem solvers
propose a solution
based on the
evidence and
their examination
of that evidence.
4.Creative thinkers solve
problems by coming
up with new and different
solutions.
Creative thinking:
You have to do things differently if you want
different results
PRACTICAL THINKING
•
•
•
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This is the ‘common sense’ aspect
It is developed from personal experience
rather than formal or academic lessons
It is putting into ‘action’ what you know
there is also an emotional connection
Practical Strategies
• Make the most of your personal strengths
• Learn from every experience – both good
and bad
• Apply what you learn – don’t keep
repeating the same mistake