In nursing, critical thinking is particularly important because of its potential impact on patient care. With the rapid changes in health care and the influx of new technology, nurses must be able to use critical thinking to make decisions that provide optimal patient care. The rapid, dynamic changes occurring in the health care setting have dictated a stronger, more comprehensive, holistic way of arriving at decisions than the traditional nursing process. This more comprehensive, holistic approach is called critical thinking. Nurses must be able to engage in critical thinking to handle the on-slaught of continuous procedural and technological changes. Critical thinking has become such a key component in learning that the National League for Nursing requires that graduates be able to demonstrate critical thinking. This article is a concept analysis of critical thinking using the Walker and Avant model.
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