Clarifying the concept of critical thinking in nursing

Nursing must chart a course between the pedagogical extremes of process versus content-focused courses. No one would deny the fact that nurses must have a solid knowledge base in addition to demonstrating an ability to think critically. Reason favors a "both-and" rather than an "either-or" approach to this issue. Justifiably, nurses have jumped on the bandwagon of critical thinking. Once on the bandwagon, however, the elusive butterfly of critical thinking has been difficult to net. It is time to inform the driver that a new course for nursing must be charted. So far, the reported nursing research has focused on critical thinking conceptualized as a score on a broad, objective test. The important first step of establishing a clear concept that defines critical thinking in nursing has not been accomplished. Finding out what the expert nurse does with knowledge will help us to articulate a conception of critical thinking that can then be used as a springboard for various teaching strategies. If educators are persuaded that "students can and should think their way through the content of their courses, can and should gain some grasp of the logic of what they study, can and should develop explicit intellectual standards, then they can find many ways to move instruction in this direction" (Barnes, 1992, p. 22).