Instructional design strategies: campus lab critical thinking stations

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Currently, the nursing shortage is at an all-time high. Buerhaus, Staiger and Auerbach (as cited in Grindel, 2004) project that it will rise to 400,000 by 2020. It is imperative that graduates from associate degree nursing (ADN) programs have competent critical thinking skills. If not adequately prepared, graduates often become exhausted, disillusioned, and leave the profession thereby increasing the shortage further. The purpose of this presentation is to augment the instructional design strategies of ADN nursing programs. Integrating theory with application using nursing labs in conjunction with the didactics of the classroom improve the critical thinking of students. Students learn through a variety of means. Employing critical thinking stations within the campus lab environment increases the students' ability to comprehend and apply fresh knowledge. This presentation articulates and demonstrates through multimedia how to design and create adjunct nursing labs to enhance critical thinking skills. Possession of solid critical thinking skills may, therefore, bolster nursing graduates for the rigors of nursing that lie ahead and increase the overall retention rates for the profession.