Aim: To analyse the levels of critical thinking among nurse managers and registered nurses and to explore the association between these levels and socio-demographic and occupational factors.
Background: Critical thinking is an essential skill in advanced clinical nursing. However, few studies to date have explored critical thinking levels in nurse managers or compared them with those recorded in registered nurses.
Methods: A randomized sample of 44 nurse managers and 295 registered nurses from a tertiary hospital in Barcelona participated in this study. The Nursing Critical Thinking in Clinical Practice Questionnaire was used to measure the level of critical thinking. The data were analysed using multivariate analysis by logistic regression.
Results: Levels of critical thinking were higher in nurse managers than in registered nurses. Age, work shift schedule and educational level were associated with a higher level of critical thinking in nurse managers and were predictor factors.
Conclusions: This study identified age, work shift schedule and educational level as factors that impact on the acquisition of critical thinking skills among nurse managers.
Implications for nursing management: This study provides substantive evidence of the levels of critical thinking among nurse managers. When introducing strategies to enhance these skills, the associated occupational factors should be taken into account.
Keywords: clinical practice; critical thinking; leadership; nurse managers; professional competence.
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.