CRITICAL

THINKING
ATTITUDES

By: Flora M. Tel-equen

 What does our attitude have to do with
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critical thinking?
♠ A person can have the knowledge and skill that
enables them to reason well, but that doesn’t mean
that she will actually reason well.
♠ A critical thinking attitude is related to the
motivation to try to reason well, but it can also
motivate an attempt to use various strategies to
overcome personal limitations.
♠ Additionally, a person with the critical thinking
attitude should often rely on the expertise of
others rather than to try to assess all arguments on

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her own because expertise is often required to
properly evaluate an argument. 2
 Confidence
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A.
 Critical thinkers believe that well-
Critical Thinking reasoned thinking will lead to
Attitudes: trustworthy conclusions. Therefore,
they cultivate an attitude of confidence
in the reasoning process and examine
emotion-laden arguments using the
standards for evaluating thought, by
asking questions such as these:
♦ Is that argument fair?
♦ Is it based on sufficient evidence?
 The critical thinker develops skill in
both inductive reasoning and
deductive reasoning.

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 B.Thinking independently
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 Begin to raise important questions about your practice.

 Read the nursing literature, especially when there are different
views on the same subject.
 Talk with other nurses and share ideas about nursing
interventions.
C. Fairness
 Deal with situations justly. Listen to both sides in any discussion.
 Critical thinkers are fair-minded and make impartial judgments.
They assess all viewpoints with the same standards and do not
base their judgments on personal or group bias or prejudice
(Wilkinson, 2012).
 Fair-mindedness helps one to consider opposing points of view
and to try to understand new ideas fully before rejecting or
accepting them. Critical thinkers strive to be open to the

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possibility that new evidence could change their minds.

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D. Responsibility and accountability
 Ask for help if you are uncertain about how to
perform a nursing skill.
 Refer to a policy and procedure manual to review
steps of the skill.
 Report any problems immediately.
 Follow standards of practice in your care.
E. Risk Taking
 If your knowledge causes you to question the
healthcare providers order, do so.
 Be willing to recommend alternative

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approaches to nursing care when colleagues
are having little success with patients
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F. Discipline
 Be thorough in whatever you do.
 Use known scientific and practice-based criteria
for activities such as assessment and evaluation.
 Take time to be thorough and manage your time
effectively.
G. Perseverance
 Critical thinking is a lifelong endeavor, nurses
who are critical thinkers show perseverance in
finding effective solutions to client and nursing
problems.
 This determination enables them to clarify
concepts and sort out related issues, in spite of

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difficulties and frustrations.
 Confusion and frustration are uncomfortable, but
critical thinkers resist the temptation to find a
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H. Creativity
 Look for different approaches if interventions are not working for a
patient.
o For example, the patient in pain might need a different positioning or
distraction technique.
o When appropriate, involve the patient’s family in adapting approaches
to care methods used at home.
I. Curiosity
 The mind of a critical thinker is filled with questions:
o Why do we believe this?
o What causes that?
o Does it have to be this way?
o Could something else work?
o What would happen if we did it another way?

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o Who says that is so?
 The curious nurse may value tradition but is not afraid to
examine traditions to be sure they are still valid. 7
 Integrity
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J.
 Recognize when your opinions conflict with
those of the patient; review your position and
decide how best to proceed to reach outcomes
that will satisfy everyone.
 Do not compromise nursing standards or
honesty and delivering nurse care.
 Intellectual integrity requires that individuals
apply the same rigorous standards of proof to
their own knowledge and beliefs as they apply
to the knowledge and beliefs of others.
 Critical thinkers question their own knowledge
and beliefs as quickly and thoroughly as they
challenge those of another.

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 They are readily able to admit and evaluate
inconsistencies within their own beliefs and
between their own beliefs and those of another.8
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Thank you for
listening….
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