There are many different levels of nursing starting at being a beginner or new nurse to being advanced and an expert at assessing and effectively treating patients to improve health and quality of life. But when a new nurse starts their first job, what category will he/she fit in to as a new Bachelor prepared registered nurse?As a BSN has the student received all the skills needed to be an expert critical thinker or will this new graduate be labeled as novice? Critical Thinking and Critical Reading When nurses are fresh out of school and has their first job, it is safe to say all the duties and tasks completed will be by the book and will be done as stated in nursing school. This method is not wrong, but will not always be effective when it comes to critical thinking.
According to Walden University (2010), critical thinking involves the nurse’s capabilities to make skillful decisions based on past experiences using a sound knowledge base. According to Penn (2009), in order for nurses to become critical thinkers, they must be flexible, learn to question the norms, take risks, and look at alternatives from past experiences in similar situations.Critical reading and critical thinking are connected in many ways, but different since critical reading is about open-mindedly assessing the information in text and critical thinking is about evaluating the effectiveness of the thought process. According to Walden University, “critical reading means “evaluating what you have read using your knowledge as a scholar” (Walden University, 2011). As a nurse I have always relied on the nursing process and past experiences to guide me in making decisions.
