Using the Case Method to Develop Critical Thinking Skills for the Care of High-Risk Families

Abstract

The complexity of the high-risk family coupled with the intricacies of the changing health care system force educators to examine how nursing students are prepared to care for these families. The Nursing and the High Risk Family course employs the case method teaching and learning strategy to help nursing students develop the critical thinking skills needed to assist high-risk childbearing and child-rearing families to meet their needs. Using the case method teaching and learning strategy, groups of students experience real-life situations in a nonthreatening classroom environment. The case method approach supports flexibility, creativity, change, risk taking, and consequently, encourages critical thinking. The Critical Thinking Model for Nursing Judgment, which defines the basic, complex, and commitment level of critical thinking, provides a framework for integrating increasingly more complex case studies into the course. Different case formats and levels of questioning promote students’ progression toward the commitment level of critical thinking.