Relationship between the Practice Environment of Nursing and Critical Thinking Disposition of Nurses in Local General Hospitals

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the practice environment of nursing and the critical thinking disposition of clinical nurses in local general hospitals. Methods: A convenience sample of 468 registered nurses was obtained from three local general hospitals. Data were collected by a self-administered ques-tionnaire during November, 2012. The survey tools were the K-PES-NWI verified by Cho et al (2011) and the critical thinking disposition instrument developed by Yoon (2004). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA with Scheffé́ ́ test and multiple regression with SPSS/WIN 18.0. Results: The mean score for practice environ-ment of nursing was 3.3±0.4 and for critical thinking disposition, 2.3±0.4. There were statistically significant differ-ences in critical thinking disposition according to age, education, length of career, current position, and marital status. In multivariate analysis, factors related to critical thinking disposition were collegial nurse-physician relations and education level. Conclusion: The results of the study indicate that collegial nurse-physician relations in the nursing practice environment are related to nurses ’ critical thinking disposition, and thus, it is important to improve the practice environment as well using individual approaches including on-the-job training to improve nurses ’ critical thinkin