The reason critical thinking is so important in nursing is based on what nursing does as a profession. Because we deal with people, there is much we must take into consideration and there are direct consequences to our nursing actions.

Critical thinking is vital because it directs us in providing safe, competent care.

For you to become a critical thinker, you must first answer the following questions. Be honest in your evaluation.

• What have you learned about how you think?
• What do you know about how to analyze, evaluate, or reconstruct your thinking?
• Where does your thinking come from? How much of it is based on past modes of thinking versus new, "out-of-the-box" thinking?
• How much of your thinking is vague, muddled, inaccurate, illogical, or superficial?
• Have you ever discovered a problem in your thinking and then changed it?

Source: Stressed Out About Your First Year of Nursing, HCPro, Inc., 2006. Pick up your copy today!