Compiled by Nan Lowe, Nursing Faculty, Algonquin College
Alfaro-LeFevre, R. (1995). Critical Thinking in Nursing: Instructor’s Manual, W. B. Saunders Company, Toronto.
This guide, when used in conjunction with the accompanying textbook provides the teacher, with suggested activities, to help students develop the necessary skills of clinical reasoning. Each chapter contains a section called “Clinical/community Activities” that could guide the planning of clinical practicum experiences.
De Tornyay, R. & Thompson, M. A. (1987). Strategies for Teaching Nursing, Third Edition, Delmar Publishers Inc., Albany.
This text deals with issues related to the teacher role in all areas of nursing education, providing suggestions for enhancing the process. The book contains a well-written chapter on “Teaching in the Clinical Setting” (Chapt.11), which provides the reader with an understanding of the clinical practicum milieu. Chapter 11 contains sections covering assessing students to establish a baseline level of ability, designing learning experiences, follow-up activities and evaluation. Other chapters address general principles of teaching and learning and provide a solid reference to support clinical instructors as they plan activities.
Duffy, M. (1992). A Multi-method Model for Practicum and Clinical Supervision in Nursing Home., Counselor Education and Supervision,Vol. 32 # 1 p. 61.
This article describes a method of supervision for gerontologic counselors. There are several ideas given, that could be adapted for providing clinical supervision to students in any area of health care. The methods of case study, clinical grand rounds and one-to-one video-supervision are discussed in detail.
Duke, M. (1995). Clinical Evaluation: Difficulties Experienced by Sessional Clinical Teachers of Nursing: A Qualitative Study, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 23 #2, p.408.
The article is a survey of part-time clinical teachers around areas of difficulty experienced when evaluating students in clinical practicum. The authors found that many of the difficulties arose in relation to teachers “lack of confidence” in evaluating the more subjective areas of student performance. There was a tendency to give students the “benefit of the doubt” and to report concerns to others with the expectation that something would be done. The other key observation was that there was a lack of planned instructional strategies to facilitate student learning. There is a need for provision of professional development activities for part time teachers, along with opportunities for validation and support from full time faculty.
Foneris, Susan, G. (2004). Exploring the Attributes of Critical Thinking: a Conceptual Basis, International Journal of Nursing education Scholarship, Vol 1 #1, article 9.
The first part of the article examines four core attributes of clinical thinking from the perspectives of contemporary educational theorists. In the latter part of the article, this information is related to application of critical thinking processes in the practice setting.
The author gives examples of educational strategies that reflect the four attributes., with the aim of shifting educational practice from “means-end approach” to operationalizing critical thinking in practice.
Hill, D. A. & McCarthy, W. (1994). Teaching Critical Decision-making Skills to Students Concerning Patients with Acute Abdominal Pain, Medical Teacher, Vol. 16 # 2/3 p.159.
This article described a very specific simulated teaching scenario for assisting medical students in learning to make decisions about patients with “acute abdomen”. It contains a detailed description of the methodology for setting up and conducting the simulation stations. It could provide a model for designing clinical simulation labs for any type of clinical experience, which would provide students with an opportunity to learn how to make clinical decisions about patients’ presenting signs and symptoms.
Ignatavicius, D. D. (2001). Six Critical Thinking Skills for At-the-Bedside Success, Dimensions in Critical Care Nursing, Vol. 20 #2, p. 30.
This article is designed as a guide to assist managers to foster critical thinking in staff nurses. It contains many practical suggestions for use at “staff meetings”. Clinical instructors could easily develop these suggestions for use in clinical pre and post conferences.
Ironside, P. M. (1999). Thinking in Nursing Education: Part I: A Student’s Experience Learning to Think, Nursing and Healthcare Perspectives, Vol. 20 # 5 p. 238.
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Ironside, P. M. (1999). Thinking in Nursing Education: Part II: A Teacher’s Experience, Nursing and Healthcare Perspectives, Vol. 20 #5 p. 243.
These two articles represent a qualitative study of the process of teaching critical thinking in nursing, within the reality of the current healthcare environment. The reality of dealing with the time constraints (which limit student’s ability to prepare in advance) is discussed. The two articles present instructor and student viewpoints that give some insight into discrepancies between teacher goals and students “ lived experience”.
LeLaurin, K. (1990). Judgment-based Assessment Making the Implicit Explicit, Topics in Early Childhood Education, Vol. 10 #3 p. 96.
The article’s focus is on evaluation of children’s functioning in a community health program. The points raised in terms of methods of making the clinical judgment process explicit through team conferences and comparisons of data are very relevant to clinical teaching of the skills related to clinical judgment and decision making.
Marshall, B. L. Jones, S. H. & Snyder, G (2001). A Program Design to Promote Clinical Judgment, Journal for Nurses in Staff Development, Vol. 17 #2, p. 72.
This article describes an education program designed specifically to develop critical thinking skills in practicing nurses. The activities are clearly spelled out in a way that would lend itself to adaptation for a series of clinical conferences in a clinical practicum setting.
Murphy, J. & Kehrhahn, M. (2001). Enhancing Clinical Reasoning Skills in Health-care Practitioners: Reflection, Articulation, Practice and Problem Assessment, Learning for the New Economy, Council for Adult and Experiential Learning International Conference, Nov. 2001.
This paper presented at the 2001 International Conference for Adult and Experiential Learning, addresses the issue of designing learning activities for clinical teaching, that foster development of clinical reasoning. The paper contains useful examples of activities that can be adapted to any clinical setting.
Morgan, S. (1991). Teaching Activities of Clinical Instructors During the Direct Client Care Period: a Qualitative Investigation, Journal of Advanced Nursing, Vol. 16 # 3 p. 1238.
This article attempts to explore activities used by instructors in the clinical environment. Several teaching activities are described, by instructors. One issue raised by the author is that there is a need for planned activities to develop specific skill sets vs spontaneous teacher actions in response to situations that arise.
Myrick, F. & Younge, O. (2002). Preceptor Behaviors Integral to the Promotion of Student Critical Thinking, Journal of Nurses in Staff Development, Vol. 18 # 3 p. 127.
This article lists specific behaviors that can facilitate critical thinking in students in the clinical area. Although the article focused on preceptor behaviors, the activities described (role modeling, facilitation, guidance and prioritization) are applicable to any clinical teaching setting. There is in depth description of what each activity consists of and how it is exemplified. The article does a good job of exploring how teaching that is grounded in pedagogical theory can be assured.
Redding, D. A. (2001). The Development of Critical Thinking Among Students in Baccalaureate Nursing Education, Holistic Nursing Practice, Vol. 15 # 4 p. 57.
This article examines development of the skills required for thinking critically. The component stages of critical thinking for clinical judgment are explored. This article provides a useful framework for use when evaluating students’ ability to think critically in the clinical setting. It helps the reader understand the process of skill development and provides an explanation for the range of skills/abilities that clinical teachers may encounter among students in their clinical groups.
Scheetz, L. J. (2000). Nursing Faculty Secrets, Hanley & Belfus Inc. Philadelphia.
Provides practical information for nursing faculty. The chapters on Clinical Teaching (Chapt.5) and Student Evaluation (Chapt.16) are particularly useful resources for teachers in the clinical area. There is also an informative chapter dealing with the area of Teaching and Evaluating Critical Thinking (Chapt.21). The book is written in a FAQ and answer style that is brief yet informative. There are additional web resources in each chapter that assist the reader pursue areas of particular interest.
Simpson, E. & Courtney, M. (2002). Critical Thinking in Nursing Education a Literature Review, International Journal of Nursing Practice, Vol. 8, p. 89.
This article is a comprehensive review of literature on Critical Thinking in nursing education. The article is divided into dimensions of critical thinking. It is helpful in terms of establishing operational definitions and in leading the reader to articles that explore ways of developing necessary skills to support clinical judgment.
Youngblood, N. (2001). Developing Critical Thinking with Active Learning Strategies, Nurse Educator, Vol. 26 #1 p. 39.
This article deals with an educational program for nurse practitioners aimed at fostering critical thinking. The article describes several active learning strategies, which would be suitable for implementation in any clinical setting.