The effect of nursing internship training program on the critical thinking dispositions of nurse interns

Abstract

Nursing internship training should enhance nurse interns’ critical thinking. This study aim was to study the effect of nursing internship training program on the critical thinking dispositions of nurse interns. The study was conducted at Ain-shams University Hospitals on a convenience sample of 140 nurse interns using a pre-post evaluation design. A self-administered questionnaire sheet comprising the California Critical Thinking Disposition Inventory (CCTDI) was used to collect data. The fieldwork was in December 2012 and July 2013. The study findings revealed that these nurse interns have generally high scores of critical thinking disposition at the start of the program, with males having better maturity scores. By multivariate analysis, the internship program is the only significant positive predictor of the improvement in nurse interns' critical thinking disposition. In conclusion, the internship program has a significant positive impact on nurse interns' critical thinking disposition. It is recommended that the nurse internship programs should give more emphasis on enhancing the critical thinking disposition of the nurse interns, especially the domains of inquisitiveness and self-confidence. Further research is needed in this area as intervention studies to assess the effectiveness of different approaches in enhancing nurse interns’ critical thinking disposition. Keywords: Critical Thinking Disposition, Nurse interns, Internship program