Guided reflective writing as a teaching strategy to develop nursing student clinical judgment

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Judgment Development
• Active Learning Strategies

Background:

• Nurse educators require effective strategies to cultivate nursing students' clinical judgment for safe practice.
• Guided reflective writing is an active learning method shown to improve learning and foster clinical judgment in patient care.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore nursing student and faculty perceptions of guided reflective writing's benefits and challenges in developing clinical judgment.
• The study utilized Tanner's Evidence Based Clinical Judgment Model as a framework.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative descriptive approach was employed.
• Junior and senior nursing students completed an open-ended survey post-clinical experience.
• Faculty perspectives were gathered through a focus group discussion.

Main Results:

• Student themes identified: "organizes basic nursing care" (Juniors) and "sense of wholeness" (Seniors).
• Evidence of progression in clinical judgment skills was observed from junior to senior levels.
• Faculty feedback indicated that guided reflective writing "encourages deep thinking".

Conclusions:

• Guided written reflection is a valuable tool for enhancing students' knowledge and readiness for complex nursing care.
• This reflective practice can be implemented across diverse clinical settings, including hospitals, simulations, and case studies.