An Unfolding Case Study: Supporting Contextual Psychomotor Skill Development in Novice Nursing Students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Skills Development
• Pedagogy in Healthcare

Background:

• Nursing students often struggle to connect theoretical knowledge and psychomotor skills learned in labs with real-world patient care scenarios.
• This disconnect hinders their ability to link client conditions with appropriate assessments and skill performance in clinical settings.
• An innovative unfolding case study was developed to bridge this gap in the nursing lab environment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of an unfolding case study in the nursing lab for novice nursing students.
• To determine if the case study approach supports the integration of assessment and theory in guiding psychomotor skill performance.
• To facilitate a smoother transition for students from academic labs to clinical practice.

Main Methods:

• Focus groups were conducted with both faculty and novice nursing students.
• Feedback was collected on the implementation and impact of the unfolding case study in the nursing lab.
• The study focused on students transitioning to clinical practice.

Main Results:

• Key impacts identified included enhanced knowledge synthesis among students.
• Participants reported improved transferability of learned skills to clinical practice.
• An increase in overall clinical competence was observed in students utilizing the unfolding case study.

Conclusions:

• The unfolding case study effectively supported nursing students' transition into acute care practice.
• Both faculty and students strongly advocated for the continued and expanded use of this dynamic teaching method.
• The study suggests this pedagogical approach should be integrated across all nursing lab courses.