Per­haps the great­est pearl of advice I received was from my nurs­ing assess­ment pro­fes­sor. To her, the great­est asset a nurse could have was the abil­ity to “crit­i­cally think her way out of a paper bag.”

The way she put it was this: sci­ence is always changing—there are always new pro­to­cols, treat­ments, and best prac­tices. The tasks pretty much stay the same—starting IVs, insert­ing foley catheters, cal­cu­lat­ing I & Os, admin­is­ter­ing meds, wash­ing your hands, etc.

Over the years her advice has proven true time and time again. The abil­ity to think crit­i­cally is what enables a good nurse to make sense of the ever-​​changing nurs­ing envi­ron­ment and pro­vide excel­lent patient care. It helps us con­duct thor­ough assess­ments and col­lab­o­rate with col­leagues to solve dif­fi­cult prob­lems. It’s how we con­tinue to pro­vide com­pas­sion­ate oncol­ogy care in the face of tough eco­nomic chal­lenges. Crit­i­cal think­ing was the best les­son I learned in nurs­ing school—not what to think, but HOW to think. It’s served me well in my career so far and is a valu­able skill for any field of nurs­ing. I am so thank­ful to my pro­fes­sor for pass­ing along her pearl of wisdom!