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Abstract
Historical references are an important part of learning how to be a critical thinker. Nurses are required to use critical thinking during all aspects of patient care, so it is a logical step to think that evidence-based practice should be taught to nursing students in the form of using historical references. However, historical perspectives have not been an important part of the current required curriculum in favor of more technical studies and hands-on clinical work. This study sought evidence through literature review, survey, and questionnaire to students on how historical perspectives can be a valuable resource for faculty and tool for students to connect theory with how nurses in the past were able to overcome obstacles. Scheel's Interactional Nursing Practice theory is used in this study to emphasize the connections nurses have with each other and their patients from nursing school and throughout their career. These experiences are what help nurses identify with the concept of being a nurse and how they translate lessons from history into practice. Participants were recruited through a social media group specific to nursing students, to ask questions regarding nursing values in general, and how they perceive the importance of using history in the nursing curriculum. These answers were put through NVivo software to identify common themes that could be analyzed regarding the importance of nursing history and research using evidence-based resources. Student responses were mostly positive regarding the use of stories and historical research in the classroom to illustrate the theory. Recommendations include using real-world examples and engaging case studies from actual historical settings to help students connect theory to practice. Future research should include how faculty perceive the use of history as evidence and how the connection between critical thinking and historical thinking translates into teaching the nursing process.
