Socrates is the first known person to question and contemplate what critical thinking is. How interesting, that people still have difficulty defining the term even after 2500 years! Critical thinking is a disciplined and self directed thought processing tool that allows a nurse to systematically organize information, reflec, and guide his/her practice to meet the patient's needs. Health care reform has now made wholistic health promotion and preventative practice the focus. With this, the role of evolved from the definition of the past. Nurses' education evolve as well. There are no memorized, pat answers for the issues facing health care and nurses today. The measure of a nurse is no longer based on the perfect "mitered" corner of the bed. Only with education focussed on teaching critical thought to analyze, observe, and systematically process information, can nurses fully promote sound knowledge and insight into the status of their patients.
yet another page on critical thinking