Critical thinking and clinical reasoning in nursing

Critical thinking is considered an essential component of the nursing profession [2]. It encompasses learning experiences, intuitive abilities, and professional system requirements [3]. Critical thinking is the purposeful and self-regulated judgment that develops during clinical reasoning and patient problem-solving [4]. This level of critical thinking leads to patient-centered nursing care outcomes, enhances creativity, and improves problem-solving skills [5]. Critical thinking increases clinical judgment and broadens learners’ perspectives in making clinical decisions [5, 6]. It also enhances self-confidence and clinical competence among nurses [5]. As a purposeful judgment, critical thinking plays a significant role in clinical reasoning [7]. Improving clinical performance and delivering high-quality nursing care depends on acquiring specialized knowledge and developing critical thinking skills, which are considered standards of nursing education [8]. Since accurate clinical reasoning is the most crucial skill required in professional nursing [3], unawareness of clinical reasoning and the inability to apply critical thinking in nursing decisions can lead to adverse patient outcomes [5].