ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1653991
The Self-Assessment of Critical Thinking Disposition and the Needs for Training: A Cross-Sectional Survey of Clinical Nurses
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China
- 2Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
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Critical thinking is essential for nurses' clinical decision-making and the delivery of safe, high-quality care, and is shaped by their critical thinking disposition. However, nurses demonstrate negative critical thinking dispositions, with limited evidence available on influencing factors and training needs.This study aims to investigate nurses' critical thinking dispositions, identify influencing factors, and explore their relationship with training needs.A cross-sectional study was conducted in three tertiary Grade A hospitals from January to February 2025. Nurses were asked to complete the Chinese version of the critical thinking disposition inventory and a self-designed training needs questionnaire.Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis were performed.A total of 370 clinical nurses participated in this study. The average critical thinking disposition score was 281.58 ± 36.68 and training needs score was 90.94 ± 12.01. Age, working experience, professional level, specialist nurse, position, department, and health status significantly influenced critical thinking disposition (all P ＜ 0.05).Multiple linear regression analysis showed health status and position being the most significant contributors (R 2 =0.128, P ＜ 0.001). Notably, a significant positive correlation was observed between nurses' critical thinking disposition and their training needs (r = 0.338, P＜0.01).These findings highlight the necessity of aligning education with individual needs. By implementing tailored training programs, nurses can be better supported the development of critical thinking, thereby fostering safer and higher-quality clinical practice.
Keywords: Critical thinking disposition, training needs assessment, Clinical nurses, nurse education, Cross-sectional study
Received: 25 Jun 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Gao, Zhong, Zhang, Wang, Chen, Cai and Ren. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wei Ren, Shenzhen Hospital, Southern Medical University, Shenzhen, China
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