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Enhancing Critical Thinking in Paramedic Continuing Education

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Alice L. Dalton
Alice L. Dalton*
Affiliation:
Prehospital Education Program, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
*
Department of Surgery, St. Joseph Hospital/Creighton University, 601 North 30th Street, Suite 3740, Omaha, NE 68131, USA
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Abstract

Critical thinking has become a buzzword, especially in medical education. The challenge is first to determine what skills compose critical thinking and what teaching techniques promote critical-thinking skills, and then to determine how to apply these techniques effectively and efficiently to a given population in the classroom.

This article begins with a working definition of critical thinking and explores the parameters and skills implied or stated in the definition. Then a teaching environment constructed around a model of critical thinking and characteristics of the audience is described. A specific teaching method, suggested by research and designed to exercise critical-thinking skills, is then applied to a specific patient problem in a continuing education class. Preliminary outcomes are presented.

The purpose of this article is to propose a productive and efficient educational method for promoting and enhancing critical-thinking skills appropriate for paramedic-level continuing education.

Keywords

case studiescontextcontinuing educationcritical thinkingeducationeducation methodsexperiencehypertensive crisisinformationinstructioninstructorlearnerlectureparamedicparamedicinesimulationthinkingthought
Type
Special Report
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , December 1996 , pp. 246 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1996

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