Why Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing Are Essential
Written by:
University of Tulsa
• Jun 4, 2026
Caring for patients requires quick thinking and confident problem solving. While nurses use a broad range of technical skills to provide quality care, an essential skill that’s easy to overlook is critical thinking. But neglecting informed decision making can carry devastating consequences. Roughly 400,000 hospitalized individuals experience preventable harm due to medical errors each year, according to a 2024 report published by StatPearls. Nursing professionals should explore the benefits of critical thinking skills in nursing, how to apply them, and the ways that advanced education can sharpen their ability to make precise decisions.
Critical Thinking Skills: A Definition
Critical thinking is the process of evaluating facts, interpreting information, and analyzing situations to make informed decisions. Finding the correct answer to a complex problem isn’t easy. When situations have no clear answers and many factors to consider, critical thinking can help individuals move forward and make decisions.
Health care professionals can apply critical thinking competencies to a wide range of workplaces and personal situations. In nursing, critical thinking skills can help deliver effective care, handle patient crises, and assess the efficacy of treatment plans.
The Importance of Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing
The fast-paced nursing environment requires prompt, data-driven decisions. Nurses use critical thinking daily, reviewing information and making decisions to promote quality care. The following benefits of critical thinking highlight the importance of this skill to a nursing career:
- Improves decision-making speed. A critical thinking mindset can help nurses make timely, effective decisions in difficult situations. A systematic method to evaluate decisions and move forward is a powerful tool for nurses.
- Refines communication. Improving professional communication allows for factual, efficient, and empathetic conversations with patients and other health care professionals.
- Promotes open-mindedness. It’s easy to overlook certain opinions or viewpoints in a high-pressure situation. Thankfully, critical thinking promotes open-mindedness in exploring solutions.
- Combats bias. A critical look at different behaviors, contexts, and viewpoints can be helpful for identifying and addressing bias. Nurses must actively seek out ways to confront and remove bias in the workplace.
Critical Thinking vs. Clinical Judgement: What’s the Difference?
Critical thinking skills are essential, but can be conflated with a slightly different aspect of effective nursing: clinical judgment.
Clinical judgement is an element of critical thinking that involves applying the data and evidence analysis of critical thinking to care situations. This involves stepping back to evaluate the situational context surrounding patient care episodes and then choosing the optimal strategy.
Nurses rely on clinical judgement immediately in the moment when they analyze patients’ needs, assess available data, and weigh the potential for complications before making a decision and taking action.
While critical thinking helps nurses develop comprehensive knowledge regarding patients and their overall condition, clinical judgement enables nurses to use what they know to treat patients safely and effectively. Both play a role in providing patients with the best possible care.
The Importance of Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing
There are many ways to apply critical thinking skills to nursing situations. The nursing process is a five-step roadmap to assist nurses in applying critical thinking skills to their daily duties. Experienced nurses and professionals considering a career change to nursing should review the steps as part of their critical thinking process.
Step 1: Assessment
Assessing a patient means far more than taking their vital signs. It also includes collecting sociocultural and psychological data. Lifestyle factors and experiences can affect the treatment process and approach, so skilled nurses review these areas before moving toward the next step: diagnosis.
For example, if a patient reports dizziness or shortness of breath, a nurse should not only check the patient’s temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate but also ask about their family history and recent events.
Step 2: Diagnosis
During the second step, a nurse’s assessment and critical thinking skills produce a clinical judgment. Nurses need to carefully consider all the factors included in the first step. When necessary, consult with other health care professionals before reaching a diagnosis or communicating that diagnosis with the patient.
Discussing a patient’s assessment with other health care professionals requires critical thinking, as the information provided about vital signs, recent events, and family history is a key component of this step.
Step 3: Planning
A nurse may be responsible for setting goals and planning a treatment plan for patients. The third step can include setting measurable, achievable goals. Nurses also coordinate care with other health care professionals.
Goals can be simple or complex, depending on the assessment and diagnosis. For example, one patient’s goals may include eating three meals a day, while another’s may include having multiple medications, specialist visits, and physical therapy activities as part of their treatment plan.
Step 4: Implementation
Critical thinking is needed to implement the nursing process, finding ways to carry out the plan with empathy. It’s also important for nurses to document care throughout the fourth step of the process.
For example, nurses should review patient history and consider symptoms before administering medication. Nursing professionals should also think critically about which patients to see first and how to prioritize patients who may need critical attention.
Step 5: Evaluation
Nurses need to continue to evaluate and review the patient’s condition using critical thinking. Evaluation allows nursing professionals to review patient conditions, recommend care plan modification, and consider overall patient status.
For example, identifying whether patients may be ready for a care plan modification or another change in care requires critical thinking and a clear, focused evaluation of multiple patient factors.
How Do You Develop Critical Thinking in Nursing?
Cultivating critical thinking skills in nursing is a complex procedure that involves a willingness to grow both professionally and personally.
- Prepare for lifelong learning. Continue learning, whether that means experimenting with new forms of medical tech, exploring new care delivery philosophies, or studying changing regulations.
- Maintain a sense of curiosity. Beyond understanding the what behind care delivery strategies, seek answers to why care is handled a certain way in certain situations.
- Use evidence-based practice. Base decision-making on the latest research to weigh situations clinically rather than emotionally.
- Maintain an open mind. Seek support and expertise from other health care professionals.
How to Foster Critical Thinking Through Nursing Education
Critical thinking is integral to success in the health care field. Thankfully, many ways are available for nurses to improve their critical thinking skills. Below are training, mentoring, and education options for fostering critical thinking.
On-the-Job Training
Because critical thinking is so critical to the daily duties of nurses, experience in the field can improve their ability to evaluate situations and make data-driven decisions. Working firsthand with patients and alongside skilled professionals is a powerful way to see and apply critical thinking in real-world scenarios.
Mentoring Opportunities
Nurses should seek mentorship opportunities for personalized, side-by-side instruction and inspiration from fellow professionals. Mentorships can be either formal or informal opportunities to learn from skilled nurses and health care professionals to promote critical thinking.
Further Education
Many continuing education opportunities are available for nurses. Professionals looking to improve their critical thinking skills should consider enrolling in courses that promote reflection, evaluation, and analytical thinking.
Develop Critical Thinking Skills With The University of Tulsa
Expand your critical thinking skills in nursing by enrolling in a program to earn a degree in the field. The University of Tulsa offers an online Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program for students to earn their BSN in as few as 21 months. Review the features of this online opportunity to see if it’s the right decision for your career.
Recommended Readings
The Benefits of Nurse Mentoring
Hospice Nurse: Job Description and Salary
Work-From-Home Safety Checklist: Securing Your Virtual Workspace
Sources:
American Nurses Association, “The Nursing Process”
ANA Nursing Resources Hub, “Critical Thinking in Nursing: Tips to Develop the Skill”
EBSCO, “Clinical Judgement (Medical Profession)”
Indeed, “Boost Your Professional Skills: The Importance of Critical Thinking”
Indeed, “Critical Thinking in Nursing (Definition and Vital Tips)”
Indeed, “Critical Thinking Skills in Nursing: Definition and Improvement Tips”
Indeed, “15 Essential Nursing Skills to Include on Your Resume”
