Critical thinking? How do you define it?

Okay. Brand new nurse, but finding that this seems to be a catch phrase for nurses and finding it a tad frustrating. Everything is labeled critical thinking. Some of this prioritization is personal preference from what I can see. One nurse prioritizes one way and another a different way. If you can't get into that nurse's brain you have a hard time "critically thinking". So as I try to develop my critical thinking ability, curious how you personally define critically thinking. Where do you balance personal preference on organization and what is truly "priority"? And what do you guide you to back up your thoughts on priority? I of course am struggling with this as I am having to change my thinking with each new nurse I encounter. It's hard to develop your own sense of judgment when each nurse tells you their way (and of course their way is the right way). Anywho, thoughts on how to decipher critical thinking from personal preference and what does critical thinking mean to you?
Critical thinking - definition: the objective analysis and evaluation of an issue to develop a plan.I have never liked this catch phrase because I believe it is my job to be a thinker. Here is an example of being a thinker: Your patient's foot is blue gray cold and pulseless.The other foot is warm with a dopplerable pulse so you know it is not a ruptured AAA and you know that the mottling is not a sign of acidosis. From experience you know that this is likely an arterial blockage and that without intervention the patient will lose the foot. A thinking nurse will be on the phone to someone immediately to obtain orders for an arterial duplex as well as a vascular surgery consult because it is likely to be a surgical emergency.You will develop your thinking skills with experience and development of your knowledge base. You may have never seen a ruptured AAA have tearing chest pain and lose the pulses in his feet. You may have never seen a person so severely acidotic that the feet are cool and mottled. Other nurses have seen it all and done it dozens of times.Until you have seen it all, you ask a colleague to take a look at the problem and ask him or her what do you think? This is what a reasonable and prudent nurse would do. As an orientee, it is your job to learn to differentiate what is urgent and what can wait. A good preceptor will challenge you to be a thinking nurse and to develop this skill. If you feel that every nurse is telling you something different, then the onus is on you to read up on that particular problem.A large part of critical thinking is trusting your intuition. If you can not put your finger on it, just say so, and ask a colleague for help. It is okay to say that something is very wrong and I don't know what this is. Your gut feelings are almost always correct when it comes to assessment skills.

I'm having a hard time with this lately because I've never had to train newer nurses. I was a new nurse at one time of course but until recently everyone I trained had solid nursing experience behind them. Now I/we not only have to teach the particular nuances of home health but how to think critically. I want to say, "we can't spoon feed you every possible scenario so we need you to apply what you've learned and build on it." Argh, I wish it were that simple. And what's more difficult is what to do or say to someone who does not naturally develop it with experience. Some seem to stay in singular thinking. Today's nursing with such high acuities just doesn't allow much for different learners.

Very simply imo it is largely Common Sense which is augmented by your education and experience.

Quote from Libby1987Now I/we not only have to teach the particular nuances of home health but how to think critically. I want to say, "we can't spoon feed you every possible scenario so we need you to apply what you've learned and build on it."

Quote from tsm007In my case I feel like the preceptor is attempting to "spoon feed" me things that I wish she would just let me do somethings myself so I can figure it out. I think she thinks I'm incompetent. Things like missing things on an assessment - she tells me before I have a chance to figure it out myself. I don't chart things I don't do. When I go to chart believe me I would catch that I didn't do it. And if I caught that I forgot it and had to go back for it a few times believe me I would remember. I feel for preceptors because I get it. They hired me to do a job and they don't have 6 months for me to figure it out even if in 6 months to a year I would be an awesome nurse at their facility. It's a tricky situation letting someone learn and being safe. So this is not bashing on my preceptor in that regard. She is a fantastic nurse and knows her stuff. However because she has seen bad things happen it is clearly hard for her to let go without being 100% sure I know what I am doing. I get that too. I just feel I will not learn to critically think if someone is doing the thinking for me before I have the chance to think it through myself.I feel awful that all I do is come on this forum and ask questions, but hell it's the only place I feel safe to ask questions right now. And I am a persistent human being. (Or so I keep telling myself anyway.) There are so many things I don't know. I literally googled nurse coach today to see if I could pay someone to help me with my bazillion questions. I want to do a good job! I would come in on my off time to figure this out. I am not lazy. I am not stupid. I am however clearly sucking at "critical thinking" at the moment.

Quote from Jules AVery simply imo it is largely Common Sense which is augmented by your education and experience.

Quote from tsm007In my case I feel like the preceptor is attempting to "spoon feed" me things that I wish she would just let me do somethings myself so I can figure it out. I think she thinks I'm incompetent. Things like missing things on an assessment - she tells me before I have a chance to figure it out myself. I don't chart things I don't do. When I go to chart believe me I would catch that I didn't do it. And if I caught that I forgot it and had to go back for it a few times believe me I would remember.

Quote from tsm007In my case I feel like the preceptor is attempting to "spoon feed" me things that I wish she would just let me do somethings myself so I can figure it out. I think she thinks I'm incompetent. Things like missing things on an assessment - she tells me before I have a chance to figure it out myself. I don't chart things I don't do. When I go to chart believe me I would catch that I didn't do it. And if I caught that I forgot it and had to go back for it a few times believe me I would remember. I feel for preceptors because I get it. They hired me to do a job and they don't have 6 months for me to figure it out even if in 6 months to a year I would be an awesome nurse at their facility. It's a tricky situation letting someone learn and being safe. So this is not bashing on my preceptor in that regard. She is a fantastic nurse and knows her stuff. However because she has seen bad things happen it is clearly hard for her to let go without being 100% sure I know what I am doing. I get that too. I just feel I will not learn to critically think if someone is doing the thinking for me before I have the chance to think it through myself.I feel awful that all I do is come on this forum and ask questions, but hell it's the only place I feel safe to ask questions right now. And I am a persistent human being. (Or so I keep telling myself anyway.) There are so many things I don't know. I literally googled nurse coach today to see if I could pay someone to help me with my bazillion questions. I want to do a good job! I would come in on my off time to figure this out. I am not lazy. I am not stupid. I am however clearly sucking at "critical thinking" at the moment.

Quote from Libby1987 My admin is responding by developing a skills lab and reassigning a well inclined manager to head up the training, it won't speed up the critical thinking but at least shaves a layer off of the learning process in the field.