Critical Thinking in Nursing Education: Literature Review

The need for critical thinking in nursing has been accentuated in response to the rapidly changing health care environment. Nurses must think critically to provide effective care whilst coping with the expansion in role associated with the complexities of current health care systems. This literature review will present a history of inquiry into critical thinking and research to support the conclusion that critical thinking is necessary not only in the clinical practice setting, but also as an integral component of nursing education programs to promote the development of nurses’ critical thinking abilities. The aims of this paper are: (a) to review the literature on critical thinking; (b) to examine the dimensions of critical thinking; (c) to investigate the various critical thinking strategies for their appropriateness to enhance critical thinking in nurses, and; (d) to examine issues relating to evaluation of critical thinking skills in nursing.</ul

Obesity prevalence from a European perspective: a systematic review

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity has been recognised as an important contributing factor in the development of various diseases, but comparative data on this condition are limited. We therefore aimed to identify and discuss current epidemiological data on the prevalence of obesity in European countries.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We identified relevant published studies by means of a MEDLINE search (1990–2008) supplemented by information obtained from regulatory agencies. We only included surveys that used direct measures of weight and height and were representative of each country's overall population.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In Europe, the prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥ 30 kg/m²) in men ranged from 4.0% to 28.3% and in women from 6.2% to 36.5%. We observed considerable geographic variation, with prevalence rates in Central, Eastern, and Southern Europe being higher than those in Western and Northern Europe.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Europe, obesity has reached epidemic proportions. The data presented in our review emphasise the need for effective therapeutic and preventive strategies.</p

La mujer ‘contrastada’. Misoginia fraseoparemiológica ítalo-hispana

In the most recent cultures, women’s condition has changed a lot, even though within the recent-paroemiological language, both phraseologisms and proverbs, that usually relegate women to a lower level compared to men, are still used. Considering the huge recent-paroemiological corpus, it is possible to realise that the complete picture of the conventional ideal of women is still characterized by misogyny. In this work, we will try to look into the idea of women as it can be seen by both the Italian and Spanish phraseologisms and proverbs, idioms that belong to the same linguistic family, which represent pretty close cultures and reveal at the same time very suggestive similes.En las culturas más recientes la condición de la mujer ha ido modificándose; sin embargo, en el habla fraseoparemiológico, siguen utilizándose fraseologismos y paremias que relegan a la mujer a un segundo plano. Estudiando el inmenso acervo fraseo-paremiológico, nos daremos cuenta de que el retrato completo del ideal convencional de mujer sigue siendo –lastimosamente– caracterizado por la misoginia, y pone de relieve más sus vicios que sus virtudes. La pinta muy a menudo como ‘discapacitada’ por lo que a los asuntos no ‘caseros’ se refiere, o hasta como el retrato de la maldad cuando ocupa una posición ‘superior’ al hombre. En este trabajo se pretende indagar en la concepción de la mujer tal como se puede deducir de los fraseologismos y paremias italianos y españoles, idiomas que pertenecen a una única familia lingüística y representan culturas bastante cercanas, al tiempo que desvelan parecidos idiosincrásicos muy sugestivos. Palabras clave: mujer, misoginia, variación, español, italiano