Critical Thinking in Nursing and Midwifery; The Employers View
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Transcript of Critical Thinking in Nursing and Midwifery; The Employers View
FELLOWS IN TEACHING AND
ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT 2009-2011
Background
Critical thinking, as a graduate attribute,
is considered by many authors in
nursing and midwifery to be an essential
quality for nursing and midwifery
practice (Forneris & Peden-Mcalpine
2009, McMullen 2009, Jones 2010,
Drennan 2010 ) Critical thinking skills
are considered to be vital in making safe
and efficient clinical decisions (Ashcroft
2009), yet developing the capacity for
nursing and midwifery students to think
critically is a major challenge in nursing
and midwifery education (Mun 2010).
Evidence that critical thinking is
considered to be important is reflected
in the numerous references to 'critical'
and 'critically' in the module descriptors
of the degree level modules in the BSc
Programme in nursing and midwifery in
UCD. While there may be a stated
educational objective in this regard, the
views and requirements of employers of
these future professionals, remains
somewhat unclear. This project, as part
of the wider Fellowship project on
critical thinking, aims to address this
gap.
Author
Tom O ConnorUCD, Belfield, Dublin 4
Email: [email protected] Tel: +353-1-716-6430
References
Ashcraft T. (2010) Solving the critical thinking puzzle. Nursing Management 41
(1), pp8-10.
Forneris S.G. & Peden-Mcalpine C. (2009) Creating context for critical thinking
in practice: the role of the preceptor. Journal of Advanced Nursing 65(8), pp
1715-1724.
Jones JH (2010) Developing critical thinking in the perioperative environment.
AORN Journal, 91(2) pp 248-50.
Mun M.S. (2010) An analysis of narratives to identify critical thinking contexts
in psychiatric clinical practice. International Journal of Nursing Practice 16 (1)
pp75-80.
Drennan J. (2010) Critical thinking as an outcome of a Master's degree in
Nursing programme. Journal of Advanced Nursing 66(2), pp 422-431.
Critical thinking inNursing and Midwifery; the employers view
Methodology
A number of healthcare employers will
be interviewed with a view to
ascertaining their views on critical
thinking and what they expect of nursing
and midwifery professionals in this
regard. Emphasis will be placed on what
employers consider critical thinking to be
and if they value having nurses and
midwives who have developed capacity
in this area.
Gaining an insight into employers views
on this subject will provide important
information for curriculum and is in
keeping with the view of Jones (2009)
that defining and developing graduate
attributes, like critical thinking, is a task
for educators, policy makers and
employers. It is hoped that the
outcomes of this project will be used to
refine and enhance this area of nursing
and midwifery education within the UCD
Nursing and Midwifery Programme.
Personal statement
My interest in the scholarship
and practice of teaching and
learning stems from a curiosity
with how it is people learn.
Particularly of interest in this
project is how it is nursing and
midwifery students develop
critical thinking for their
professional clinical practice their
further learning