I heard a startling statistic today: only three percent of the
population is interested in improving themselves. At first I thought
that can't possibly be right. But after more thought I'm not as sure
that it is wrong. I started to think about the number of people that
invest their time and money into self improvement and actually follow
through. I thought about how many people make written goals and
define the action steps to achieve their goals. I thought about
critical thinking…

More than any other topic, I'm asked by conference planners to speak
to nurses about critical thinking. I think that many people feel
that if nurses would just use critical thinking, then many clinical
problems could be solved and errors would be reduced. But what is
critical thinking? Isn't it just imaginative problem solving?

How often do we encourage nurses to use their imagination? In a
system that is governed by financial constraints, policies,
procedures, and a rigid authoritative structure is there any room for
imagination? And if a nurse comes up with a good idea, aren't we the
first ones to shoot it down? Oh sure, we've got good reasons for
resisting change; change is uncomfortable and most of us will do just
about anything to prevent it.

What would happen if we encouraged change; and when nurses came up
with an idea, we embraced it and supported them in every way possible
to see it to its conclusion? I think it would go a long way toward
encouraging imaginative thinking and problem solving.

Think about ways that you could encourage nurses to use their
imagination. How about starting a "Wild Idea" contest? The winner
could be given reimbursement for conference tuition and travel to a
nice resort location. The hospital would be the ultimate winner of
hundreds of good ideas and get a detailed report back from the
conference on other new ideas and updates.

Keep in mind that if you want to empower your nurses to use creative
problem solving, you must inspire them to want to contribute,
motivate them to do the extra work, and support them along the way.
Remember that many of your staff feels unappreciated and overworked
to begin with; but most of them would be happy to contribute if they
felt that their contributions would be valued and respected.

Critical thinking is necessary to the advancement of nursing as a
profession. Despite the lip service we give to critical thinking,
imaginative problem solving by nurses is not encouraged, nor is it
supported by the paternal hospital culture. If we truly want to
develop critical thinkers, we need more than just another seminar to
teach it, we need a culture change that encourages "wild ideas" and
embraces nurses with dignity and respect for their contributions.
Please share with us your ideas on how you inspire, motivate, and
support your nurses to become "wild idea" creators and encourage
critical thinking in your institution.

Best wishes,
David W. Woodruff, MSN, RN-BC, CNS, CEN
President, Ed4Nurses, Inc.
www.Ed4Nurses.com
www.dwoodruff.com