Critical Thinking and Decision-Making in Nursing: An Article Review

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Central Queensland University, Australia
Term –
MGMT20135 CRITICAL THINKING AND MANAGERIAL DECISION-MAKING
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Assessment: Practical and Written Assessment-Article Review
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Research paper Title: “Does good critical thinking equal effective decision-making among
critical care nurses? A cross-sectional survey”.
Annotation: Ludin, S. M., (2018). Does good critical thinking equal effective decision-making
among critical care nurses? A cross-sectional survey. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. Vol.
44. 1-10. DOI: 10.1016/j.iccn.2017.06.002
Research Background
The main topic of research is the critical thinking and its uses in the decision-making process. A
critical thinker is not only a good decision maker, but a good critical thinking nurse can make
strong decisions at crucial times in the hospital. It has been found that the nurses who are critical
thinker are very much involved in doing, not in dazzling something. Critical thinking can be
defined as reasonable thinking capabilities in a corporation with the system of the hospital.
Critical thinking is a way of analysing and evaluating decisions with good thinking. It is defined
as a careful and accurate decision-making process for any problem. Critical thinking is very
significant in the nurse field because it is very important to analyse the decisions made by a
nurse, as he or she has to take care of a patient (Ludin, 2018).
Nurses are facing very good challenges nowadays in the complex situations of the hospitals as it
is very helpful for good decision-making processes. The skills of the nurses are very much
improved with critical thinking. Critical thinking not only improves the thinking capability of the
nurse but also helps in making strict decisions on the workplace. Health services delivery should
be rapid enough to provide comfort to the patient as soon as possible. It should also be noted that
the responsibility of a nurse increases as the level of work increases. It is important to note that
nurses should be ready any day to work or help in difficult situations in the hospitals and critical
thinking provide help in that. It can be developed within the individual. There are some factors
in any individual in any field as they can help in maintaining a good relationship with the other
in their workplace (Roshdy, 2019).
It is important to note that there are some problems nurses have to counter, as some social and
medical issues may arise which forces them to change their decisions, such situations should be
taken care by the nurses, as critical thinking helps them in such situation. The critical thinking

with good decision making are the two main most important parts of a relationship between the
nurses.
Research objective
 To provide a benchmark for critical thinking in the context of decision-making processes
in nursing.
 To analyze and evaluate the basic significance of the association between critical thinking
and decision-making processes.
Research questions: 1
How critical thinking helps in the decision-making process?
Critical thinking is a key and important part of the decision-making processes. It is one of the
most common ways of improving the decision-making process using critical thinking. It is
important to note that critical thinking is a good way of solving problems by analysing,
evaluating and gathering. It is the path of thinking all the best options to solve any problem and
then selecting one suitable option for the same. Critical thinking and analysis are very important
in nurses to the workplace, as critical thinking helps analyze the decisions already taken (Siles-
González & Solano-Ruiz, 2016)
In the workplace of nurses, critical thinking processes involve a total of five steps such as
identification, the solution, exploration, action and reevaluate. Critical thinking is mostly is a
stand-alone activity. There are some individual activities which are very useful in critical
analysis with thinking as the job of a nurse is very complex, and she has gone through several
problems which can be solved easily with the help of a decision-making process.
It is very important to note that new challenges only been tacked when the skills of critical
thinking been taught to individuals. The nurses come across many problems in hospital, and most
of the issues are critical and need to be evaluated on the spot (Chan, 2013).
The critical thinking and decision-making processes are attached more than what been think off.
Critical thinking means solving hidden problems and finding solutions to the problems which are
complex. It is also important to understand that both are interlinked. There is a requirement of
one when been in need of the other. Nurses have to evaluate the problem, this is a part of critical

thinking, thinking about the pros and cons of all the alternatives solutions and then selecting one
solution is the part of decision making (Roshdy, 2019).
Research Question: 2
How should critical thinking be implemented in the nurse’s profession?
The nurses are always busy; they require a high range of time management in their working
culture to come across certain things and to solve problems. Critical thinking and its
implementation in the life of the nurse profession is not that easy as they are busy and they are
taken care of the patients every time. Critical thinking is not a one-time process; it is a
continuous process to develop skills of critical thinking into the nurses’ profession (Stout,2020).
Nurses are well trained in their work, and it is important to note that nurses have to analyse
certain things in taking decision making, as they are crucial to making. While recruiting any
nurse, it is the responsibility of the hospital to analyze the candidate well. There should be some
training, and mock drills should be there to develop some critical thinking skills in them
(Roshdy, 2019).
They should be countering some situation. There should be mock drills in the hospital for
developing the skills in the nurses. Mock drills of some emergency cases, or mock drills on
sudden workload, or any situation in which how they will be reacting and taking decisions,
should be analysed. Questionaries’ should be given every week, asking certain situations if they
have gone through in the future, what would be their decisions in those situations
(Holmes,2015).

Research Method
In this research, a group of nurses has been allotted, and a group of 10 nurses been made. 10
groups of such nurses have been made. They have given tasks and questionaries' to solve. Task
has been given to the individual group. The group formation is required to check the team
leadership skill and how they react to certain decisions made by their team leaders and also by
their team members (Stout,2020).
Tasks including emergencies, quick decision-making scenarios have to be countered by the
groups, and this drill is conducted in proper monitoring and supervision. Questionnaires also
have asked certain questions such as how to improve critical thinking in any individual, how to
note some important points in the system. This drill was very helpful in understanding the
reactions of the nurses and developing critical skills in them in context of the decision-making
process as ultimately decisions have been monitored in the drill, how they make decisions and
how they manage time and coordination with others (Holmes, 2015).

Major Findings
The major finding from this research is to understand how critical thinking is affecting the
decision-making processes in the workplace of a nurse in a medical Centre or hospital. Research
has been conducted involving drill which helps in analysing the candidates, how they will react
in tough and strange situations, how they will take decisions and collaborate with others to find a
suitable solution to a problem (Stout,2020).
The significance of the findings
Medical and health sector is day by day developing, and many kinds of research have to be
conducted in the future. The development of the nurses and doctors, their skills development in
strict decision making is very important to analyse those, and hence it is important to state such
findings. The research conducted states how to develop critical thinking and good decision-
making system in the candidates, and hence it will help the future researches also (Roshdy,
2019).

Critical Analysis
The research mainly focusing on developing critical thinking and how it can help in strict
decision making and mock drills have been conducted, to develop those skills by a counter or
creating such situation where they have to take such decisions quickly. Yes, it agrees with this
drill should be conducted and important.
But I disagree with the fact that only critical thinking is important in managing good decision-
making process because decision-making process has also certain things which should be taken
care off, is how to encourage them to work effectively, as critical thinking mainly waste time as
it involves too much analysis and evaluation. Critical thinking does not show smart thinking
(Stout,2020).
Strengths and weaknesses:
It is important to note that critical analysis of the decision about to be made and already made is
a big strength if any candidate is able to do so because critical analysis defines the pros and cons
of the system and decisions already been made.
Critical analysis and thinking will help in making decisions, but it is time-consuming, as critical
thinking and analysis takes time to come across perfect solutions, and health sector cannot bear
that (Stout,2020).
Contribution and value
It is very valuable as certain mock drills help in developing such skills into the candidates, as the
decision-making processes of these candidates are very important. The research made through
mock drills also establish a benchmark on how to analyse candidates using such drills, and to
monitor their capability to take and handle such problems and how they react in pressure
situations. This research will impart a good impact on future researches.

References:
 Anonymous. (2014). Critical Thinking. Dynamics: The Official Journal of the Canadian
Association of Nurses, 23(3), 5-6
 Chan, Z. C. Y., (2013). A systematic review of critical thinking in nursing education.
Nurse Education Today. Vol. 33. 236-240.
 DiRocco, A., Liu, Lisa, & Burrets, Molly. (2019). Adapting Dialectical Behavior
Therapy for the Treatment of Bipolar Disorder, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses.
 Holmes, N., Wieman, C., & Bonn, D. (2015). Teaching critical thinking. Proceedings of
the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(36), 11199-
11204.
 Kim, M., & Xing, X. (2019). Appropriation of affordances of multiliteracies for Chinese
literacy teaching in Canada. Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced
Learning, 14(1), 1-14.
 Ku, & Ho. (2010). Dispositional factors predicting Chinese students’ critical thinking
performance. Personality and Individual Differences, 48(1), 54-58
 Ludin, S. M., (2018). Does good critical thinking equal effective decision-making among
critical care nurses? A cross-sectional survey. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing. Vol.
44. 1-10.
 Roshdy, A. (2019). Admission to the intensive care unit: The need to study complexity
and solutions. Annals of Intensive Care, 9(1), 1-2.
 Siles-González, J., & Solano-Ruiz, C., (2016). Self-assessment, reflection on practice and
critical thinking in nursing students. Nurse Education Today. Vol 45. 132-137.
 Stout, K., Wohlfarth, DeDe, Borders, Kevin, & Lim, Nicholas. (2020). Level of
Motivation and Case Management Outcomes in a Child Maltreatment Prevention
Program, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses