7 Characteristics of Critical Thinking

In the past week or so, I have received two different continuing education unit (CEU) offers focused on critical thinking in nursing. This got me thinking (critically), "what's going on here?" So, I surfed the Internet using critical thinking as my search term, and I was overwhelmed. I found images and graphs and a You Tube video and websites and studies; clearly critical thinking is the latest trend.

For nurses, this is not a new trend. Without even being aware of it, half the time, nurses critically think their way through every day. The thinking process that guides nursing practice must be organized, purposeful and disciplined because nursing decisions often profoundly affect their patients' lives.