Use of Foundational Knowledge as a Basis to Facilitate Critical Thinking: Nurse Educators' Perceptions

Abstract

Critical thinking frequently involves the ability to interpret information and make informed decisions based on such information, which usually includes foundational knowledge.,ere is a need in nursing practice for graduates with critical thinking skills to enable them to make informed clinical decisions that will benefit patients. The facilitation of critical thinking has been elusive to many nurse educators. Critical thinking (CT) is not taught in a vacuum, but integration into content has been found to be beneficial in its facilitation. Consideration of foundational knowledge as a basis for facilitation of CT during teaching and learning remains a challenge in nursing education. This paper explored and described the perception of nurse educators on how foundational knowledge can be used as a basis to facilitate CT during teaching and learning. A qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive design that is contextual in nature was employed. A sample of thirteen (n. 13) nurse educators was purposively selected, and data were collected through unstructured individual interviews. The collected data were transcribed verbatim and analysed using Tesch's method of qualitative data analysis. The following themes emerged from the analysed data: (i) conducive environment for thinking; (ii) facilitation strategies to stimulate foundational knowledge; and (iii) foundational, conceptual, and procedural knowledge. It was concluded that CT does not take place in a vacuum and therefore foundational knowledge will be used by students in class to answer questions and in clinical settings as they reason about patients' health problems and to come up with relevant and accurate care plans. They will use the foundational knowledge as an anchor upon which they construct new knowledge using their facilitated CT skills.