Critical Thinking in Nursing: From Technical Rationality to Reflective Practice

Abstract

Purpose: This is a multi-purpose study intended to identify how Spanish nursing evolved from technical rationality to reflective practice and to show evidence of critical thinking and reflective practice by identifying their parallels with socio-critical nursing. Another objective was to explain the historical influence of the paradigms prevailing in Spain during the second half of the twentieth century. Study Materials and Methods: A descriptive thematic review was conducted. Compte, Hume, Bacon, Habermas, Foucault and Horkheimer were the primary sources used, along with secondary sources related to the profession; namely, Index and SciELO. Results: The evolution from technical rationality to reflective practice occurred with the changes in prevailing thought during each period. Reflective practice and critical thinking are shown as being necessary to understanding socio-critical nursing. Spain's history determined the changes in nursing in that country. Conclusions: The evolution of nursing thought in Spain followed the changes in the dominant paradigms in Spanish society. Reflective practice and critical thinking, as described by Habermas, allow for emancipation and, by extension, the patient's autonomy, through active participation in solving their health problems. This process begins with an awareness of the role to be played by the nursing professional and the citizen/patient in planning health care. The profile of women set by the Franco regime and the arrival of democracy in Spain were decisive to this evolution. The former was stifling, while the latter was a driving force.