CRITICAL THINKING & NCLEX-RN PERFORMANCE

Critical Thinking & NCLEX-RN Performance



Critical Thinking & NCLEX-RN Performance

Introduction

Critical thinking is very important for nursing students. This article reviews the critical thinking in the nursing field related to National Council Licensure Examination-Registered Nurse performance. Quantitative research is used to measure the abilities and skills of critical thinking in the role of NCLEX-RN performance. Apart from providing knowledge and basic facts, modern education has evolved itself to make the students critical thinkers. Teaching nursing education added evaluation on the implication of that knowledge in real life of students. Through critical thinking, the utilization of nursing knowledge is evaluated. The final accountability rests with the nurse educators who train and educate nurse graduates to use their critical thinking skills in formulating critical and nursing judgments. National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) is also accountable for the development of the nursing examinations. NCEX-RN, along with NCSBN tests the critical thinking ability in nurse graduates. To be successful in these examinations, nurse graduates require answering each question by using critical thinking at the cognitive level.

Methods for Integrative Interview

Whittemore and Knafl(2005) proposed a method for integrative review. Their process consists of five stages. The stages are problem identification where relevant terms are defined; literature search stage where all significant literature is evaluated. Next stages are data evaluation stage, data analysis stage and final presentation stage (Romeo, 2010).

Problem Identification Stage

Critical thinking improves the skill of problem-solving and decision-making. The occupation of nursing has evolved from task-oriented to health-care providers. The increasing complexity in the clinical settings has introduced the importance of critical thinking in this field. Critical thinking can be described as various disciples continue to struggle today. It is a goal to improve one's thinking. It is also said to be a combination of one's knowledge, attitude and skills. It is a process which involves reflective, reasonable and critical thinking related to problems of nursing. It is a cognitive procedure involved with problem solving a decision making. An intensive research was conducted by using Delphi method in 1990 to develop the critical thinking. 46 panelists from USA and Canada participated in this two-year project to define critical thinking. Dr. Facione is globally famous for his work on critical thinking. Since 40 years, he is working in this field. He also participated in the project of 1990. He defined critical thinking as a tool of inquiry. Critical thinker ...