title: Critical thinking competence and disposition of clinical nurses in a medical center.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Critical thinking is essential in nursing practice. Promoting critical thinking competence in clinical nurses is an important way to improve problem solving and decision-making competence to further improve the quality of patient care. However, using an adequate tool to test nurses' critical thinking competence and disposition may provide the reference criteria for clinical nurse characterization, training planning, and resource allocation for human resource management.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to measure the critical thinking competence and critical thinking disposition of clinical nurses as well as to explore the related factors of critical thinking competence.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clinical nurses from four different clinical ladders selected from one medical center were stratified randomly. All qualified subjects who submitted valid questionnaires were included in the study. A Taiwan version of the modified Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal and Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory was developed to measure the critical thinking competence and critical thinking disposition of clinical nurses. Validity was evaluated using the professional content test (content validity index = .93). Reliability was assessed with a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .85. Data were analyzed using the SPSS for Windows (Version 12.0; SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Results showed that competence of interpretation was the highest critical thinking competence factor. Inference was the lowest, and reflective thinking as a critical thinking disposition was more positive. In addition, age, years of nursing experience, and experiences in other hospitals significantly influenced critical thinking competence (p < .05). Factors of age, years of experience, and nurses clinical ladder were shown to affect critical thinking disposition scores. Clinical ladder N4 nurses had the highest scores in both competence and disposition. A significant relationship was found between critical thinking competence and disposition scores, with 29.3% of the variance in critical thinking competence potentially explained by total years of nurse hospital experience. Clinical ladder and age were predictive factors for critical thinking disposition. Commonality was 27.9%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Nursing experience and clinical ladders positively affect critical thinking competence and disposition. Issues of critical thinking competence increasingly need to be measured. Therefore, appropriate tools for nursing professions should be further developed and explored for specific areas of practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nursing, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taiwan, ROC.
authors.forename: Rung-Chuang
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Mei-Jung
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Mei-Chuan
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Yu-Chu
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Pai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses / Q000523:psychology*; D011361:Professional Competence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013850:Thinking