Critical Thinking for Novice Nurses: A Guide to Healthcare Practice

This essay delves into the critical importance of critical thinking for novice nurses in healthcare. It highlights the necessity of moving beyond blindly following procedures and instead, embracing independent decision-making rooted in critical analysis, interpretation, and evaluation. The essay underscores the challenges faced by newly registered nurses and the stages of learning they undergo, emphasizing the development of skills in problem-solving, clinical judgment, and effective patient care. It stresses the significance of critical thinking in forming a professional workplace, dealing with difficult situations, and making informed clinical decisions. The essay also explores the benefits of adopting a critical thinking approach, enabling nurses to handle emergencies, communicate effectively, and provide optimal care. It concludes by emphasizing the independence and adherence to intellectual standards that critical thinking fosters, ultimately promoting a successful career in nursing for novice practitioners.

Running head: CRITICAL THINKING FOR NOVICES NURSES 1
Critical Thinking for Novice Nurses
Institution’s Name
Date

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Introduction
In healthcare, there are various skills that a nurse has to possess to attain competency or
be termed as an expert. One of these skills is learning to think and acting critically. This is
critical in the sense that it is part of the requirement that nurses have to attain to be competent.
However, novice nurses, or those registered to practice in Australia, usually have problem
inculcating critical thinking in their practice. It is therefore essential that this kind of group learn
to think and act critically in their practice and not blindly following procedures put forward
either by their senior colleagues or doctors (Kong, Qin, Zhou, Mou, &Gao, 2014, p.461). Thus,
this essay tries to elaborate why learning to think and act critically is essential for novice nurses.
Additionally, the essay will elaborate some of the importance of a novice nurse having the ability
to think and act critically. In addition to that, it is essential to explain why it is not prudent for
nurses to enact procedures blindly without utilizing their skills in thinking and circumstances
where this can become unprofessional and even unrealistic. Therefore, even though it is
challenging for inexperienced nurses to be tasked with the responsibility of making decisions on
their own, it is important to look at the reasons why this is essential.
Novice Nurses
Newly registered nurses, from nursing college, lack the ability to move swiftly and make
decisions on their own. Various reasons study attribute this, firstly, is that the new nurses feel
unprepared or cannot make decisions that meet the daily challenges characteristics of the
workforce (Parahoo, 2014, p.424). In addition to that, it is common for the novice nurses to feel
that they do not possess critical thinking and clinical knowledge essential for one to come up
with a sound decision. In dealing with specific cases, the novices appear to face challenges in

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dealing with an emergency, when caring for a dying patient or end-of-life scenario (Bradshaw, &
Hultquist, 2016, p.236). Also, in patients suffering from acute illness, new nurses tend to fare
poorly in regards to thinking and acting critically. Even though novice nurses execute their
decisions appropriately, they lack the confidence to ascribe a rationale behind their decisions,
either because of lack of confidence or inexperience in dealing with real-life situations. It makes
it essential thus for them to find a way to learn the ability to think and act critically.
There are various important levels in learning that a novice nurse undergoes before he or
she becomes confident enough to make his or her own decisions or attain the status of making
his or her decisions based on ability. The first stage is the basic level where a nurse believes that
the senior nurse is the one to offer him or her all the answers for any problem (Saintsing, Gibson,
& Pennington, 2011, p. 356). The second stage is called the complex level, and in this stage, the
nurse becomes slightly independent. Even though he or she takes procedures and answers from
the senior nurse or doctor, he or she also start making some decisions on her own without
involving anyone else. The last level for a nurse is the commitment level, and here, the nurse is
entirely independent and has acquired the confidence and clinical knowledge to make almost all
decisions on his or her own (Ingham-Broomfield, 2015, p.34). All these levels are as crucial for
this topic as they depict the stages and importance of each level that a novice nurse undergoes
before gaining the necessary experience and knowledge to think and act critically in regards to
treating patients. Additionally, the levels denote various ways that newly registered nurses need
to adapt to avoid taking instructions and be independent in solving problems in the workplace
(Theisen, & Sandau, 2013, p.429). In addition to that, moving from the lower stage to the highest
stage improves the nurse’s professional practice.
Importance of Nurses Thinking and Acting Critically

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For newly registered nurses in Australia, it will be challenging for them to form a
successful career in nursing without having to think and act critically. It is also true that clinical
skills are essential, but to be a competent nurse, there is more to that. It needs some bit of
reasoning and thinking and not just taking procedures. As far as nursing is concerned, the aspects
that the new novice need is to be precise, fair, logical, complete, clear and accurate (Freeling, &
Parker, 2015, p.46). All these elements the novice nurses must be taught during their practice and
have to maintain them during talking or acting. This will ensure that the nurse is not just a puppet
but one with the know-how and ready to respond to a patient for whatever concern that may
arise. The skills that the newly graduated and registered nurse needs to be taught include but are
not limited interpreting, evaluating and analyzing (Rush, Adamack, Gordon, Lilly, &Janke,
2013, p.350). To start with interpreting, the new nurse has to understand and be in a position to
elaborate the meaning of a given scenario. On the other hand, the new nurse needs to possess
analyzing skills as a component of critical thinking for investigating of course of action but must
come from data which meets the criteria of being objective or subjective (Edwards, Hawker,
Carrier, & Rees,2015, p. 1258). It is for this reason among many others that make it important
for newly registered nurses to learn to think critically and acting the same as well for a successful
treatment.
Another reason that novice nurses need to learn on how to think and act critically and not
just the following procedure is for forming a workplace. This entails making performance
expectations which can be in the form of values that are well spelled out for everyone to
apprehend in the given workplace. This appears to have a positive influence, especially on
professional practice simply because nurses have the option of taking part in the process or have

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their opinion had in a particular subject (Pfaff, Baxter, Jack, &Ploeg, 2014, p.7). Therefore, it is
very crucial to create such kind of environment that cultivates professional behaviors because it
makes nurses think on how they tackle issues and topics when they practice or rather administer
a patient.
In addition to that, it is important for novice nurses to learn to think and not just take
procedures blindly as this enables them to deal with difficult situations. For instance, in a
situation where a choice determines which course of action is fit to be implemented. Moreover,
for the novice nurses to make clinical decisions, it is essential that they learn reasoning strategies
and some of the criteria which are used by clinical nurses to come up with such decisions (Peters,
2014, p.225). The novice, therefore need to learn by asking why a certain decision has to be
made for the nurse to be in the right position to make the right choices for the patient (Reem,
Kitsantas, & Maddox, 2014, p.1026). By learning how to think and act critically but not taking
procedures blindly, the novice nurses put themselves in a position to either make sound judgment
or decisions that are largely derived from their knowledge and experience which in turn can
develop further skills.
On the other hand, one of the best ways for novice nurses to learn problem-solving skills
is to stop taking instructions blindly and start learning on how to think and act critically. For the
newly registered nurses in Australia, they have to be taught in this phase on ways on how to
examine the patient in all manners to identify what the patient needs (Hendricks, & Cope, 2013,
p.720). It is after this point of critical thinking that the nu nurses should then proceed to solve the
problem by the use or application of evidence-based or the characteristics of the patients aimed
at improving his condition (Sargent, &Olmedo, 2013, p.605). In addition to that, by acquiring
skills in problem-solving, the novice nurse put himself or herself in the right position to perform

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similar tasks again in the future should such a problem arise in the same condition which will not
have been the case if she or he continues taking procedures blindly.
There arise situations where a patient is unable to adequately communicate or show signs
of what he or she requires. By taking instructions from senior nurses or any other authorities
blindly, a nurse can never be in a position to help such a patient. This is another situation that
calls for not only learning to think but acting critically for newly registered nurses in Australia. A
nurse with vast knowledge and experience is such situation may be able to think critically and
come up with new and various ways that can be helpful to the patient (Theisen, &Sandau, 2013,
p.430). On the other hand, a nurse who is not exposed to such situation or one who keeps on
relying on another person to formulate procedures or decisions to be followed may prove to be
ineffective or rather fail to offer any help to the patient. Novice nurses need to be taught that
problems exist and prepare themselves with that kind of attitude. That sort of attitude is essential
in both problem-solving and decision-making process in a hospital or in a patient to nurse
interactions (Franklin, Burns, & Lee, 2014, p.1300). Unlike in cases where a nurse is bound to
wait for somebody to make decisions or offer guidance, the new nurses, by having this kind of
attitude, are well prepared. Additionally, the nurse is aware of the problem that takes place and
can form the guideline for solving various problems.
It is challenging for nurses to operate in situations where they cannot completely make
decisions. For newly registered nurses, it is important they take note that cases arise in a hospital
that needs the person next to the patient to offer a solution (Morton et al., 2017, p.141).
Additionally, following instructions blindly makes it unprofessional as a nurse need to have
some know-how in various ways of responding to a patient. It is with this regard that newly
registered and graduated nurses need to learn how to treat, respond and act promptly in situations

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of emergencies or any other that need their assistance (Phillips, Kenny, Esterman, & Smith,
2014, p.110). This explains the reasons behind the need for learning among novice nurses.
Studies also show that nurses who are critical thinkers are likely to stick to intellectual standards.
This enables them to avoid ambiguity and confusion in ideas. Thus, there are numerous befits
that call upon all nurses, and in this case, new graduate registered nurses to stop following
procedures blindly but instead learn how to think and act critically.
There are various reasons that novice nurses need to learn the ability to think and act
critically. The first thing that makes it so essential is that it brings nurses a form of independence.
It is worth noting that nurses enter medical field with little or no working experience (Taylor,
2002, p.15). This makes them be over-reliant to senior nurses or the experienced ones who then
act as their leaders in executing most of their decisions (Black, 2016, p.127). In effect, this
creates some form of dependence for any decision that they have to make in regards to patient’s
treatment or as the emergency arises. Thus, by learning to think and acting critically is essential
to avoid such kind of dependency and attachment that comes with it.
Conclusion
It is evident that nurses need more skills than clinical knowledge. For the new graduate
who has been recently registered as practicing nurses, it is important they learn how to think and
act critically for many reasons. Firstly, a practitioner who thinks critically is likely to maintain all
the standards practicing procedures. Secondly, a novice nurse will be in a better position to solve
problems that emanate from patients that do not necessarily require an experienced nurse. In
addition to that, this kind of learning will make it possible for the novice nurse to become
independent and thus stop relying on the senior or top authority to offer guidance on the best

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decisions to make for problems emanating from patients. Another reason is that it helps in the
process of decision-making both in the hospital setting and for patients concerns. Critical
thinking skills act as guidelines for future references should the same problem show up. Lastly,
where nurses think and act critically, it promotes the workforce of the hospital as they are able to
generate new ideas in helping the department.

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