Short written assignments for clinical nursing courses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Pedagogy

Background:

• Developing critical thinking is essential for nursing students.
• Traditional assignments may encourage summarization over independent analysis.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the use of short written assignments for enhancing critical thinking in clinical nursing courses.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of peer critique in post-clinical conferences.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of short written assignments in clinical nursing courses.
• Utilizing post-clinical conferences for assignment activities.
• Employing peer critique for student work.

Main Results:

• Assignments promote independent thinking on clinical topics.
• Students are less inclined to plagiarize or summarize existing work.
• Peer critique serves as an effective feedback mechanism.

Conclusions:

• Short written assignments are a valuable tool for cultivating critical thinking in nursing students.
• Integrating these assignments into post-clinical conferences with peer review is effective.