Ethical debates: enhancing critical thinking in nursing students
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Updated: Sep 27, 2026

Using Learning Outcome Measures to assess Doctoral Nursing Education
Published on: June 21, 2010
Lori Candela1, Susan Rush Michael, Shae Mitchell
1Department of Nursing, University of Nevada Las Vegas, 89154, USA. lcandela@ccmail.nevada.edu
Abstract:
The use of classroom debates can be helpful in teaching ethical content that is often nebulous and difficult for students to comprehend and apply. Debates enhance critical thinking skills through researching issues and developing a stance that can be supported in scientific literature. The authors describe a student debate project involving ethical issues with chronically ill clients. Many students changed their views during the debates. Students evaluated the debates as a positive learning experience.
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