This document discusses critical thinking in nursing. It defines critical thinking as purposeful, goal-directed thinking aimed at making judgments based on evidence rather than assumptions. The document outlines types of thinking, components of critical thinking in nursing including knowledge, experience, competencies, attitudes, and standards. It discusses benefits of critical thinking for nurses, barriers to critical thinking, and characteristics of critical thinkers. The document emphasizes the importance of critical thinking skills for nurses in clinical decision making.

1. Critical Thinking
DRLaila Megahed
2022

2. ● What is thinking?
● What is Critical Thinking?
● Types of thinking?
● Critical Thinking Standards?
● Benefits of Critical Thinking
● Barriers to Critical Thinking
● Characteristic of Critical Thinker
● Why Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing
Matter

3. Do You Agree?
“GIVE place here to some further
consideration of thought.
You will never become great
until your own thoughts
make you great, and therefore it is of the
first importance that you should
THINK.”

4. What is thinking?
Why is the sky
blue?
Is time travel
possible?
Why doesn’t she
like me?
Why doesn’t he
like me?
As you start asking
questions and seek
answers, you are in
fact THINKING.
In other words:-
Thinking is
purposeful, organized
process that we use to
make sense of the
world.

5. Critical thinking is the ability to examine information rationally and make a
reasoned judgment based on your analysis.
Critical thinking is general term given to a wide range of cognitive and
intellectual skills needed to:
➢Effectively identify, analyze and evaluate arguments.
➢Discover and overcome personal prejudices and biases.
➢Formulate and present convincing reasons in support of conclusions.
➢Make reasonable, intelligent decisions about what to believe and what to do.
Note: Critical thinking is a skill that can be enhanced through practice.
Higher-order thinking skills like critical thinking enable you to learn actively,
rather than passively absorbing information as it's presented to you.
What Is Critical Thinking?

6.  Critical thinking is an active, organized, cognitive process used
to carefully examine one’s thinking and the thinking of others.
 Purposeful, goal-directed thinking aiming to make judgments
based on evidence rather than conjecture ‫خمن‬
.
 It is based on principles of science & the scientific method &
develops strategies that maximize human potential &
compensates for problems caused by human nature
Definition

7. Purpose of Critical thinking
The use of creativity provides the nurse with the ability to:
Generate many ideas rapidly.
Be generally flexible and natural; that is, able to change
viewpoints or directions in thinking rapidly and easily.
Create original solutions to problems.
Be independent and self confident, even when under pressure.
Demonstrate individuality.

8. Critical thinking consists of a skill-set and attitude.
There are six major components of critical thinking:
• Interpretation
• Analysis
• Inference
• Explanation
• Evaluation
• Self-regulation

9. Components of Critical Thinking in Nursing
0-Specific Knowledge Base.
0-Experience.
0-Critical Thinking Competencies.
-Diagnostic Reasoning
-Clinical Decision Making
-Nursing Process
0 -Critical Thinking Attitudes
0 -Critical Thinking Standards
-Intellectual Standards
-Professional Standards

10. Universal intellectual standards are standards which must be
applied to thinking.
To think critically requires having command of these standards
 Clarity
 Accuracy
 Precision (Specific)
 Relevance
 Depth
 Breadth
 Logic (Plausible)
 Fairness
Critical thinking standards

11. Clarity
❏ Could you elaborate further on that point?
❏ Could you express that point in another way?
❏ Could you give me an illustration?
Clarity is the gateway standard.
If a statement is unclear, we cannot determine whether it is
accurate or relevant.
To achieve our personal goals in life we need a clear conception
of our goals and priorities, a realistic abilities, and clear
understanding of the problem and opportunities we face.
…..
Critical thinking standards?

12. Accuracy
❏ Is that really true?
❏ How could we check that?
❏ How could we find out if that is true?
Precision
❏ Could you give more details?
❏ Could you be more specific?
Critical thinkers really understand the importance of precise thinking in
life. They understand that to cut through the confusion and uncertainties
that surround many problems and issues, it is often necessary to insist on
precise answer to precise questions. What exactly the problem we’re
facing? What exactly are the alternative?
Critical thinking standards?

13. Relevance
❏ How is that connected to the question?
❏ How does that bear on the issue
Depth
❏ How does your answer address the complexities in the question?
❏ How are you taking into account the problems in the question?
❏ Is that dealing with the most significant factors?
Breadth
❏ Do we need to consider another point of view?
❏ Is there another way to look at this question?
❏ What would this look like from the point of view of . . .?
Critical thinking standards?

14. Logic
❏ Does this really make sense?
❏ How does this follow from what I said before?
❏ Does this contradict a previous statement?
Fairness
❏ Do I have a vested interest in this issue?
❏ Am I sympathetically representing the viewpoints of others?
❏ Am I open minded?
Critical thinking demands that our thinking to be fair:
open-minded
Impartial
Free from biases
Preconception
Critical thinking standards?

15. -Helps in making more informed decisions in everyday life.
-Is an important skill in any profession.
-It helps you to think creatively – ‘outside the box’.
-It keeps you from becoming narrow.
-Better control of your own learning and empathy for other points
of view and improves comprehension abilities.
-Enhances language and presentation skills.
-Thinking clearly and systematically can improve the way we
express our ideas.
Why Is Critical Thinking Important?

16. At Work
Skill that can help workers at the workplace,
Learn quickly and solve problems.
Think creativity.
Gathers and analyze the issue meaningfully.
Draw appropriate conclusions from data
Communicate their ideas clearly and effectively
Being able to think well and solve problems
systematically, is an asset for any career and is
expected of you in higher education.
Benefits of Critical Thinking

17. Daily life
 Helps us avoid making foolish decision.
Helps us become a good citizen capable of making
good decisions on important social, political and
economic issues.
Helps us in developing good thinking skill capable
of examining our own assumptions and dogmas.
 Critical thinking plays important role in promoting
democratic process
Benefits of Critical Thinking

18. Barriers to Critical Thinking
You might ask,
➢Why is that so many people including the highly educated and
intellectual people find it difficult to think critically?
Barriers to critical thinking include:
Lack of relevant background information
Poor reading skills
Bias
Prejudice
Superstition
Peer pressure
Close-mindedness
Narrow-mindedness

19. 5 most powerful barriers to critical thinking
1-Egocentrism -Self centered thinking (Self interest thinking --
Thinking self as center of attention)
2-Sociocentrism -Group centered thinking (Group interest thinking
To assume that own group is more superior or righteous)
❏ 3-Unwarranted Assumption belief that something is true
without proper evidence or justification.
A 4-Wishful Thinking Believing something is true because one
wishes it to be true.
5-Relativism Thinking that truth is just a matter of opinion
The problem is not the problem. The problem is your attitude
towards the problem
More Barriers to Critical Thinking Cont.

20. Characteristic of Critical Thinker
Critical Thinker….
➢Are honest with themselves.
➢Regard problems and controversial issues as exciting challenges.
➢Strive for understanding, keep curiosity alive remain patient with
complexity.
➢Base judgments on evidence rather than personal preferences.
➢Are interested in other people's ideas and so are willing to read and
listen attentively.
➢Practice fair mindedness and seek a balance view.
➢Practice restraint, controlling their feelings rather than being
controlled by them.

21. There are many important elements involved in thinking critically.
To become a better critical thinker, familiarize yourself with these key
concepts.
Open-mindedness: Critical thinkers must work to have unbiased
thought processes and remain open to more than one point of view.
Analysis: Analyze information to determine its reliability and to
understand it well enough to draw further conclusions.
This is one of the most important aspects of critical thinking.
7 Examples of Critical Thinking Skills

22. Interpretation: Take time to interpret your analysis, synthesizing, and
deciphering the meaning of relevant information.
Problem-solving: Once you analyze and interpret a problem, you can
come up with one or more possible solutions.
Decision-making: By making a decisive decision, you come to a
conclusion based on the data you have interpreted.
Effective communication: You must be able to convincingly explain
your conclusions (and the thought process behind them) to others.
Self-improvement: Good critical thinkers develop positive habits of
mind by reflecting on their own personal critical thinking process and
looking for ways to improve it.
7 Examples of Critical Thinking Skills

23. Different Thinking
Between Critical
Thinkers And Uncritical
Thinkers
Critical Thinker
 Think independently and are
not afraid to disagree with
group opinion.
 Understand the value of critical
thinking, both to individuals
and society as a whole
Uncritical Thinkers
 Tend to engage in
“groupthink", uncritically
following the beliefs and
values of the group.
 See little value in critical
thinking

24. Why Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing Matter
 Nurses are faced with decision-making situations in patient
care, and each decision they make impacts patient
outcomes.
 Nursing critical thinking skills drive the decision-making
process and impact the quality of care provided
 For example, nurses often have to make triage decisions in
the emergency room. With an overflow of patients and
limited staff, they must evaluate which patients should be
treated first. While they rely on their training to measure
vital signs and level of consciousness, they must use critical
thinking to analyze the consequences of delaying treatment
in each case.

25. Critical Thinking
Critical thinking is a complex cognitive process
• Critical analysis allows the nurse to make better decision
• Why? When nurses must make decisions about client care
and about the distribution of limited resources, they will be
forced to use critical thinking to think and act on areas
where there are neither clear answers nor standardized
procedures and where conflicting forces make decisions
complex.

26. • A whole definition of critical thinking in nursing are developed
as follows:
(1)Entail purposeful, outcome-directed thinking;
(2)Is driven by patient, family, and community needs;
(3)Is based on principles of nursing process and scientific method;
(4)Requires knowledge, skills and experience;
(5)Is guided by professional standards and ethics codes;
(6)Requires strategies that maximize human potential and compensate
for problems created by human nature;
(7)Is constantly reevaluating, self-correcting, and striving to improve.
Definitions of Critical Thinking

27. • Avoid medical/clinical errors.
• Identify better alternate options.
• Increases productivity.
• Better clinical decision making.
• Avoid poor or delayed decisions.
• Save time and energy.
• Work in resource limited settings.
• Quality thinking and quality work output.
• Brings in innovation (Creativity).
• Avoid litigations.
• Reduces fatigue.
• Develops confidence.
• Helps to climb the leadership ladder.
Why should we
think critically?

28. How Do Nurses Accomplish This?
0Learns to be flexible in clinical decision making.
0Reflect on past experiences and previous knowledge.
0 Listen to others point of view.
0Identify the nature of the problem.
0Select the best solution for improving client’s health.
0Guided by professional standards and ethic codes.
0Requires strategies that maximize potential and compensate for
problems.
0 Constantly reevaluating, self-correcting, and striving to improve.

29. * Precision for data gathering & analyzing
* Active listening and empathy
* Accuracy for attention to details
* Patience to check and recheck accuracy of data & inconsistency
* Reasoning: significance for and logic for synthetic thinking
* Problem solving, brainstorming solutions
* Decision- making clarity of purpose and context
* Evaluating: Fairness to evaluate consequences, risks
and opportunities
Key critical thinking skills

30. • General Critical Thinking
• Specific Critical Thinking in Clinical Situations
• Specific Critical Thinking in Nursing
 General Critical Thinking
• General critical thinking processes include
 The scientific method,
 Problem solving, and
 Decision making.
This are not unique to nursing but are used in other
disciplines and in other situations.
Types of Critical Thinking Competencies

31.  1、Scientific Method It is one approach to reasoning
and one formal way to approach a problem, plan a
solution, test the solution, and then come to a conclusion.
It is a process that moves from observable facts of experience
to reasonable explanations of those facts to verify that those
sets of facts agrees with reality.
Nurse might identify a problem and seek answers with a
formal approach (collecting data, formulating a hypothesis,
testing the hypothesis, evaluating the results.

32.  2、Problem Solving
In problem solving, the nurse obtains information that clarifies the
nature of the problem and suggests possible solutions.
The nurse then carefully evaluates the possible solutions, chooses
the best one to implement, and then carefully monitors the situation
over time to ensure its initial and continued effectiveness.
 3、 Decision Making In decision making, a person is faced
with a problem or situation where a choice must be made as to a
course of action.
 Decision making is an end point of critical thinking that leads to
problem resolution.

33.  Specific Critical Thinking in clinical situations
• Specific critical thinking competencies in clinical situations
include
 Diagnostic reasoning,
 Clinical inferences,
 Clinical decision making.
These competencies are widely used by physicians, social
workers, nurses, and other health care professionals in deciding
about the clinical care and support of clients.

34.  1、Diagnostic Reasoning and Inferences
.- It is a process of determining a client’s health status after gathering data
and making a clinical judgment.
• Most clients have problems for which there are no clear solutions.
Nurse must learn to question, to retrieve knowledge regarding symptoms,
and then to reason in a direct and precise way to determine the nature of
the client’s problem.
Part of the process involves making inferences given data such as s/s, lab
data, behaviors (Inference is the process of drawing conclusions given
related pieces of information or data) of client.
• The nurse may need to select from a wide range of options to meet goals.
Clinical decision making can be made for individual patients or groups of
patients.

35. •Diagnostic reasoning enables the nurse to assign
meaning to the behaviors, physical signs, and reported
client symptoms.
The process of diagnostic reasoning involves a series of
clinical judgments made during and after data collection,
resulting in an informal judgment or formal judgment.
• An example of diagnostic reasoning is the formulation
of a nursing diagnosis.
 Diagnostic Reasoning and Inferences Cont.

36. The clinical decision -making process requires thoughtful
reasoning so that the best options for the client are chosen based
on the client’s condition and the priority of the problem.
• The specific critical thinking competency in nursing is the
nursing process.
• The nursing process incorporates general and specific critical
thinking competencies in a manner that focus on a particular
client’s unique needs.
 2、Clinical Decision Making

37. In fact, the three types of critical thinking competencies are
often incorporated in the nursing practice situations.
• A nurse may use all the critical thinking competencies,
such as the scientific method and the diagnostic reasoning,
with the format for the nursing process, making clinical
decisions to resolve the client’s problems in one practice
situation.
 Clinical Decision -Making Cont.

38.  Critical Thinking Competencies in Nursing Practice
• Specific critical thinking competency used in Nursing Process
– Assessment
– Nursing Diagnosis
– Planning
– Implementation
– Evaluation

39.  The Basic Level
 The Complex Level
 The Commitment Level
1、The Basic Level Learner is trusting that the experts have the
answer to every problem and situation
• Thinking is concrete and based on book, principles, rules, policies.
Lots of following the step by step (doing bed bath).
• Ability to think critically, is limited
A person can learn and promote his critical thinking ability by
accepting the diverse opinions and values of experts.
Levels of Critical Thinking in Nursing

40. 2、The Complex Level A person begins to detach from
authorities and analyze and examine alternatives more
independently.
A nurse realizes that alternatives, perhaps conflicting,
solutions do exist, and weighs each one carefully before
making a final decision.
Their thinking becomes more creative and innovative.
When a complex situation develops, they are willing to
consider deviations from standard protocols or policies.
Levels of Critical Thinking in Nursing

41. 3、The Commitment Level The individual anticipates the need to
make choices without assistance from others and then assumes
accountability for them.
At this level the nurses do more than just consider the complex
alternatives a problem poses.
They choose an action or belief based on the alternatives available
and stand by it .
Committed critical thinkers act in support of the client and support
of the professional beliefs that underlie the discipline of nursing.
Levels of Critical Thinking in Nursing

42. Critical Thinking Model
• The model helps to explain how nurses make clinical judgments/
decisions in their clinical practice that result in safe, effective, nursing
care.
There are 5 components in this model of critical thinking:
– Specific Knowledge Base
– Experience in Nursing
– Critical Thinking Competencies
– Attitudes for Critical Thinking
– Standards for Critical Thinking

43. 1、Specific Knowledge Base A nurse’s knowledge base
includes information and theory from the basic sciences,
humanities, and nursing.
Broader knowledge base gives the nurse a more holistic view
of clients and their health care needs.
Nurses should know that it is important to judge if the
knowledge available to them is accurate, complete, and
relevant at the outset of critical thinking.

44. 2、Experience A nurse learns from observing, sensing, talking
with the client, and then reflecting actively on the experience.
 Repeated experiences in clinical settings are the only way to
develop the intuitive clinical knowledge for expert decision-
making skill.
 The ‘novice’ used only rigid rules and guidelines in making
decision.

45. 3、Skills in Critical Thinking ( Critical Thinking
Competencies)
Cognitive skills are the core component of critical thinking.
Many complex thinking processes require the use of
cognitive critical- thinking skills.
Critical Thinking Competencies in nursing is nursing
process

46. Attitudes are the motivation to critical thinking in nursing practice.
Certain attitudes are crucial to critical thinking. Such as,
 Confidence,
 Independence of thought,
 Fairness,
 Integrity,
 Discipline
 Responsibility, and accountability
 Curiosity,
 Risking and courage,
 Creativity,
 Perseverance,
 Humility
4、 Attitudes for Critical Thinking

47. 5、 Standards for Critical Thinking
• Standards for critical thinking are the criteria for determining the
soundness, justness, and appropriateness of criteria decisions and
judgments.
• These standards conclude intellectual standards and professional
standards.
(1)Intellectual Standards Previously mentioned (Clear, Precise,
Specific, Accurate Relevant, Plausible, Consistent Logical, Deep, Broad,
Complete Significant, Adequate, Fair)
(2)Professional Standards Ethical Criteria , Criteria For Evaluation
,Criteria For Professional Responsibility.

48. Ethical Criteria • The conscientiousness and caring that nurses display
in nursing practice are often a reflection of their ethical standards.
• Nurses with critical thinking should also use the seven commonly
cited ethical principles, such as
 Autonomy,
 Beneficence,
 Justice,
 Fidelity, (loyal)
 Veracity,(telling the truth)
 Confidentiality and
 Accountability.

49. Criteria for Evaluation
• Criteria for evaluation may be based on standards of nursing care,
recognized in the professional literature or developed by related clinical
agencies or professional organizations.
• It is necessary for nurses to use the evaluation criteria to set the
minimum requirements in order to ensure the quality of nursing care.
• Also include norms those established through research in nursing
practice to be used when determining the clinical status of a client.

50. Criteria for Professional Responsibility
• The standards of professional responsibility that a nurse
strives to achieve derived from four main aspects:
 Those standards cited in nurse practice acts,
 National regulatory and treatment guidelines,
 Institutional practice guidelines, and
 Professional organizations’ standards of practice

51. 1. Knowledge Define, list, describe, identify, show, name, quote
2. Comprehension Explain, describe, summarize, differentiate,
discuss, interpret
3. Application Illustrate, use the information, apply, demonstrate,
show, solve, classify, discover
4.Analysis Breakdown, distinguish, infer, prioritize, order, justify,
classify, arrange, divide
5. Synthesis Integrate, modify, rearrange, substitute, plan, create,
design, invent, incorporate
6. Evaluate Decide, rank, test, measure, recommend, support, conc
lude, compare, appraise, defend
Steps in Critical Thinking

52. The Essence Of Critical
Thinking Is To Move:
FROM:
An unconscious mixture
of high quality and
low -quality thinking:
* Spontaneous
* Subconscious
* Uncontrolled
* Impulsive
* Unanalyzed
* Self validating
TO:
Stops and assesses ourselves
before going forward, rigorously
applying intellectual standards to
our thinking:
* Probing
* Disciplined
* Seeks the truth
* Self assessing
* Self correcting

53. THANK
YOU