Impact Of Reflective Writing Interventions On Critical Thinking Skills Of Baccalaureate Nursing Students In Australia: An Essay.

Discuss about the Critical Thinking and Managerial Decision-Making.

The report is represented to discuss the various information and data present within the article that has been provided. Based on the research article, it can be understood about the impact of reflective writing interventions on the critical thinking skills and understanding the behaviors of the baccalaureate students. Discussions will be made regarding the critical thinking skills that they will achieve and how it can help them to achieve success in the field of nursing in the future. The research methodology will further expand the scope of the research to derive the best possible outcomes.

The topic of the article is to determine the impact of reflective writing interventions on the critical thinking skills and dispositions of the baccalaureate-nursing students in Australia. The report is prepared to demonstrate the critical thinking skills and managerial decision making for ensuring successful writing interventions and analyze the different types of data and information obtained all throughout (Naber and Wyatt 2014).

According to the article presented by Naber and Wyatt (2014), it could be understood that reflective writing interventions had brought positive impacts on the critical thinking skills as well as on the dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. THE American Association of Colleges of Nursing and National League for Nursing have worked together to provide a layout for making the students understand the benefits of critical thinking and how it can even improve the efficiency of managerial decision making with ease and effectiveness (Naber and Wyatt 2014). To improve the critical thinking and managerial decision making skills, it would be important to focus on the objectives including the testing of reflective writing interventions, common features of the participants who have high scores and evaluating the relationship between scores, institutions, gender, age, race or ethnicity.

By obtaining the degree, their critical thinking skills have improved and they can perform certain actions with much convenience. Few of the actions performed are the analysis of patient’s situation, evaluating the effectiveness of the nursing measures and considering the feelings and behaviors of the patients properly to fulfill their needs and requirements properly. The nursing students would be able to pass the test of State Board of Nursing Registered Nurse certification and would also be able to gain higher scores than the sophomore and freshmen (Naber and Wyatt 2014). Based on their experiences and actions undertaken, the educators could increase their understanding and often utilize reflective writings to enable successful analysis and reasoning while critically thinking.

Literature Review

There is very little gap in the literature because of the lack of information in the area, because of which, it may be difficult to reach a good conclusion in the end. The need for research is considered as a gap that can hinder the successful decision making process as well as make the nursing students face certain issues to think critically and make decisions properly. From the literature, the baccalaureate nursing students scored higher than the AND and RN students in the test scores due to the nursing programs, though there were no such evidences regarding the improvement of critical thinking skills based on their experiences. The Paul’s model was not implemented, which was a major literature gap well that not only hindered the generation of successful outcomes (Naber and Wyatt 2014). It proved that the nursing education had negligible impact on their critical thinking and managerial decision-making skills.

These gaps were found, though the Writing to Learn pattern facilitated the reflective writing among the students who had obtained the degree of nursing from their respective universities and colleges. The reflective skills are termed as threshold skills that can not only make them focused on critical thinking but also gather samples effectively while conducting a research. This would also improve the relationships between the faculties of the University and the students as well as create a positive impact on the dispositions of the baccalaureate-nursing students (Naber and Wyatt 2014). The pedagogical strategy constituted the reflective writing, which further allowed the nursing students to know the approaches needed to complete a reflective journal assignment and even solve problems, gain clarity of messages and maintain accuracy during the writing. Though relevant information could be obtained from the literature review, still there was no such mentioned components related to the managerial decision making process and how it was impacted.

A proper research methodology was managed by following suitable research methods, ethical considerations and involvement of participants to collect and analyze data properly. The level III study was done by using the experimental design for testing the variables and complete the assignment in reflection considering the experiences gained regarding the clinical shifts and rotation hours, group activities and class readings.

The sample size was chosen as 70 considering the students who have been baccalaureates after the nursing program from the two universities were managed. All these students hold either L4/R or L4/NR degree based on the nursing courses to which they were enrolled (Naber and Wyatt 2014). The collection of data process also included the in-depth research activities including both didactic and clinical activities that required critical reflection. The information about demographics was obtained by obtaining the age, race, gender as well as the experience time duration at the health care.

Research Methodology

The research was conducted by considering all the ethical standards properly. The participation of respondents was voluntary, because of which, they were selected randomly according to CCTST and CCTDI. The computer databases stored the necessary data and information that could be used for conducting the research efficiently. None of the respondents was forced to take part in the research and they were informed about the research, which should be conducted. They were provided with information about the time, dates and locations and were even acknowledged with the scores obtained from the nursing program (Naber and Wyatt 2014).

The analysis of data was done by utilizing SurveyMoneky, which had been a effective online survey and questionnaire tool. Feedbacks were obtained along with the post-intervention CCTDI and CCTST tests, which improved the data analysis process effectiveness. A test was done that consisted of 75 statements to which the students should agree or disagree by obtaining scores ranging between 70 to 420. MANCOVA was done to compare the results derived on the basis of their responses (Naber and Wyatt 2014).

The findings were the data analysis outcomes generated to understand whether the reflective writing interventions could create an impact on the critical thinking and managerial decision-making skills or not for the baccalaureate students’ scores of CCTST and CCTDI during the experiences. Among the 70 respondents, 36 students were part of the control group while the remaining students were in the experimental group.

Based on the non-parametric test, it was found that there was not much variations between the control and experimental groups in terms of months of experiences while pursuing the nursing program. By using Chi Square tool, it was depicted that the groups were heterogeneous. The score for control group was lesser than the experimental group, which favored then critical thinking skills of the experimental group (Naber and Wyatt 2014). Thus, the group members in the experimental group possessed good reflective writing skills, which enabled them to gain in-depth analysis of researches when compared to the control group. The interventions improved the students’ abilities to obtain the best knowledge and understand whether the information that they recovered had been accurate, valid and true to the research or not. The top ten scoring participants possessed exceptional analytical thinking skills, which made them skilled enough to gain the truth and accurate information. Most of the students were believed to complete the necessary clinical components and could strive for excellence in the future during the nursing practices ((Naber and Wyatt 2014).

Data Analysis

From the article provided, it could be understood that the critical thinking helped in analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating the information and data. These should be considered those as important things by the students as effective for making decisions successfully and experience growth and success in their career. This is not only an essential aspect of nursing for theirs but also is responsible for the actions undertaken by them to serve the patients in a better way. Baccalaureate nursing students mean the students who have gained a degree in the field of nursing and health. The article not only stated the benefits that could be obtained from the reflective writing interventions but also depicted the approaches that could be followed to enhance critical thinking skills and facilitate the making of managerial decisions in business. Various data analysis tools were used and tests were done to check whether the students had been capable of writing in reflection and could make decisions properly or not (Naber and Wyatt 2014).

The article presented here was quite effective for evaluating the findings of the research. It also showed the findings of the research were true to the research goals and objectives. The data and information obtained were quite effective, which not only maintained the authenticity of the research but also created a positive impact by enhancing the skills, knowledge and expertise of the students to proceed in their career. The article was published in 2014 and the authors Naber and Wyatt are quite popular in the field of reflective writing and critical thinking. The article also allowed me to obtain results based on the data collection and analysis, which further helped in improving the effectiveness of the research conduction (Naber and Wyatt 2014). I learned about the control and experimental groups where the group members obtained relevant knowledge and skills to carry out their nursing practices with ease and effectiveness.

Conclusion

Based on the findings from the article, it could be understood that the reflective writing interventions improved the skills of the students to think critically and even gain the scopes to become successful in the field of nursing and healthcare. They would be able to identify the cause of everything and even obtain leadership and managerial skills, which might assist them in better management practices. The test and data analysis also showed that the students had obtained the necessary skills to write reflectively and thus a positive impact had been created on the critical thinking abilities of theirs too.

References

Naber, J. and Wyatt, T.H., 2014. The effect of reflective writing interventions on the critical thinking skills and dispositions of baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse Education Today, 34(1), pp.67-72.