The relationship of education to critical thinking ability and values among nurses: socialization into professional nursing.

Exposure to faculty is assumed to positively influence critical thinking ability and professional values; therefore, faculty must be assumed to be superior in these characteristics. As a first step toward testing these assumptions, this study used a cross-sectional survey technique to compare critical thinking ability and values in ADN-prepared (n = 32) and BSN-prepared (n = 32) registered nurses, nursing faculty (n = 32), and sophomore college students (n = 32) beginning a baccalaureate degree program in nursing. The critical thinking ability of faculty was not significantly higher than that of sophomore nursing students when the influence of age was controlled statistically. The values of all three groups of nurses were strikingly similar, although faculty valued achievement most highly (P = .0001), while sophomore students valued goal orientation most highly (P = .001). All subjects valued support highly, but only sophomore students valued benevolence highly.