Assessment of critical thinking skill among senior student nurses

Introduction: Critical thinking skill is one of the components of clinical decision making and criteria for clinical competency of nursing professionals and students and also valuable factor to develop nursing professional autonomy. In attention to unsuitable results of prior researches and importance of critical thinking ability in nursing and effect of culture on it، further studies about critical thinking skill ability in nursing students are needed. Objective: This study was carried out to determine of critical thinking skills ability among senior nursing students in Sabzevar University of medical science. Method: This research is a descriptive study. 35 subjects were selected by simple sampling from senior nursing students (7th & 8th semester). Data were collected by questionnaire in two parts: demographic variables and B form California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST). After approval ethical and explain necessity of survey، questionnaires distributed among Sabzevar University of medical science nursing students. The data were analyzed by SPSS17. Results: Average of critical thinking skills score was 10. 49±2. 60 with maximum 15 and minimum 5. Also، all participants (100%) had poor critical thinking skills. There were significant differences between variant domains of critical thinking skills (p<0.001). There were no significant statistical relationship among prior semesters average scores and critical thinking skills scores (r=0.02) and students age and critical thinking skills scores(r= 0.06). Conclusion: Critical thinking ability in all participants was weak and no one achieve to minimum critical thinking score. Hence we must train students with high critical thinking skills ability in twentieth century and this topic must be put in colleges’ curriculum Keywords: Nursing, Critical Thinking, B, Form California Critical Thinking Skills Test (CCTST

Comparison of Critical Thinking and Clinical Decision Making Skills Among the Last-Semester Nursing Students and Practicing Nurses in Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences

Introduction: Critical thinking and clinical decision making skills lead to care improvement and the application of nursing process. Previous studies have indicated that critical thinking and clinical decision making skills among nurses and students are low and studies comparing nurses and students in this regard have yielded inconsistent results. Thus this survey aimed to compare critical thinking and clinical decision making skills in the last-semester students and nurses in Sabzevar University of Medical Sciences in 2010. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, all 35 senior (last-semester) students and a random sample of 35 nurses with above 2 years of work experience were selected. California Critical Thinking questionnaire (Form B) and Lauri’s clinical decision making questionnaire were used for data gathering. Data were analyzed using t-test, paired t-test, analysis of variance, chi square, and non-parametric tests. Results: Mean of critical thinking scores for students was 10.49±2.6 and for nurses 10.33±4.6. Mean score of clinical decision making for students was 68.05±4.46 and for nurses 63.70±10.01. Comparison of students and nurses in terms of the mean scores of critical thinking and clinical decision making showed a statistically meaningful difference (p<0.001). Conclusion: Low levels of critical thinking and clinical decision making skills among nursing students and nurses indicates the necessity of the skill improvement by embedding them in students’ curriculum and continuous education for nurses