The nine aspects of being and thinking like a nurse all stem from a critical thinking approach, which involves analysis, evaluation and synthesis of content. This approach can be fostered with student...

The nine aspects of being and thinking like a nurse all stem from a critical thinking approach, which involves analysis, evaluation and synthesis of content. This approach can be fostered with student centred learning activities, such as simulation, because they provide an opportunity for the theoretical memory to start to become ‘muscle memory’, or the movement from ‘knowing that’ to ‘knowing how’, according to Benner's 2015 Novice to Expert theory. Preceptorships with expert nurses, who exemplify the Bennerian qualities, are also powerful ways to expose novice nurses to role models who show what ‘thinking like a nurse’ means in the clinical setting.