Students practice oral communication skills in seminar presentations. Students also examine the effect of current and emerging technologies on nursing practice. Critical thinking is conscious knowledge-based analysis and synthesis of data which result in logical outcomes. Critical thinking is a process involving reasoning, judging, and intuiting related to a variety of situations. This evidence also describes the purpose of critical thinking for the professional nurse.
Conclusions based on bias or personal opinion are contrary to the critical thinking process.
Critical thinking is introduced to students in the third semester. During the rest of the program, students are encouraged to demonstrate critical thinking skills as reflected in plans of care, approach to unsolved problems in research, and creation of new approaches to problems.