The Art and Science of Nursing: Care and Critical Thinking

The Art and Science of Nursing: Care and Critical Thinking

For over 100 years, the nurse was considered to be a subservient handmaiden who merely met the physical needs of the sick. Not until the Civil War was the importance of formal education acknowledged. Over the past 10-20 years, care has been lost from nursing while technology has soared .. Every day research reveals new and better ways to solve existing problems as well as the identification of new problems. Perhaps one of the fastest growing areas of new information discovery is in the field of health care. while all this technology may improve or prolong life, the nurse is left feeling overwhelmed and the patient feeling less than human. There must be a balance between the art (caring) and the science (critical thinking) of nursing. The equation to meet this balance is constantly being challenged. A common comment from all nurse educators is, "There is just not enough time to teach everything these students needs to know". Nurse educators must rethink the way nursing students are being educated. No longer can the instructor tell the student everything they need to know to be successful. Nurse educators must teach students how to think critically. Students must be taught basic concepts and then be taught to apply these basic concepts in varying situations. In tum the student becomes responsible for his/her own learning and begins to build upon the concepts of critical thinking.