| Nurses utilize the skill of critical thinking everyday to make decisions about patient care. The complexity of health care delivery requires advanced skills in analysis, reasoning, and decision-making. Nursing education is faced with producing a product that functions effectively in the use of these advanced skills. Therefore, nursing educators must enhance their understanding of critical thinking in order to better serve the students attending nursing programs today and in the future.;The purpose of this study was to explore the process of critical thinking. This study investigated the presence and perceived effectiveness of critical thinking elements in a representative sample of student nurses and registered nurses. Enhancing our understanding of critical thinking offers guidance in nursing education in issues of admissions, curriculum, and teaching methodology selection.;To address the purpose of this research, qualitative methodology, through the use of case study, was selected. A purposive sample was identified: 10 senior nursing students with grade point averages of 3.0 or higher and 10 registered nurses with three years or less experience in acute care facilities.;Interview appointments were arranged with participants. Information about the study was provided, questions were answered, and the informed consent form was signed. The student nurses and registered nurses were asked to read a case study and respond "aloud" to six questions about the patient in the case study. Interviews were audio-taped for analysis.;Inductive data analysis was used in this study. Analysis was aided by the computer program The Ethnograph. A constant comparative method was used in the identification of categories of data units, which revealed 10 elements of critical thinking. All of the registered nurses used these elements; student nurses used nine of the 10. The only element not used by the student nurses was networking. Identified elements included: seeks knowledge, seeks thought organization, sets priority, questions self, identifies need for action, networking, correlates causality, draws conclusion, maturity/experience, and holism.;In comparing the two sample groups, little qualitative differences were found. However, the identification of these elements is important for nursing educators' task of preparing student nurses, to the work environment of registered nurses, and to future research related to critical thinking. |
