ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the current status of critical thinking ability and commu-nication ability of nursing students, therefore providing reference for teaching reform. Methods The Critical Thinking Scale translated and revised by Pro. Peng MeiZi of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and Supportive Communication Scale (SCS) edited by Whetten and his colleague were used to investi-gate nursing students' levels of critical thinking and communication ability among 176 selected nursing students in our college, with method of Random Cluster Sampling. Descriptive analysis, single sample t-test, and two independent sample t-test were applied to the collected data with SPSS l7.0. Results①The average score of critical thinking for the investigated college nursing students was (264.54± 29.94). 72.73% of them got 210~280 points, in which three items: cognitive maturity (t=4.695, P=0.000), open mind (t=4.016, P=0.000), and intellectual curiosity (t=2.973, P=0.003) were greater than 40 points. And the differences were statistically significant; compared to different individual character-istics, being a student cadre (t=3.494, P=0.001) or not is of statistical significance. ②The total average score of communication ability (t=3.219, P=0.002) for college nursing students,as well as the score of providing effective negative feedback (t=6.790, P=0.000) and supportive communication (t=4.267, P=0.000) were significantly higher than median 3.00. And the differences were statistically significant. Conclusion In order to improve the critical thinking ability and interpersonal communication ability of nursing students, and educate the nursing students to adapt to society and complicated clinical nursing environment, it is necessary to reform the curriculum setting, curriculum design and teaching method.