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Critical-thinking ability in respiratory care students and its correlation with age, educational background, and
Richard B Wettstein1, Robert L Wilkins, Donna D Gardner
1Department of Respiratory Care, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, Texas, USA. wettstein@uthscsa.edu
Background:
Critical thinking is an important characteristic to develop in respiratory care students.
Methods:
We used the short-form Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal instrument to measure critical-thinking ability in 55 senior respiratory care students in a baccalaureate respiratory care program. We calculated the Pearson correlation coefficient to assess the relationships between critical-thinking score, age, and student performance on the clinical-simulation component of the national respiratory care boards examination. We used chi-square analysis to assess the association between critical-thinking score and educational background.
Results:
There was no significant relationship between critical-thinking score and age, or between critical-thinking score and student performance on the clinical-simulation component. There was a significant (P = .04) positive association between a strong science-course background and critical-thinking score, which might be useful in predicting a student's ability to perform in areas where critical thinking is of paramount importance, such as clinical competencies, and to guide candidate-selection for respiratory care programs.
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