Improving Confidence in Clinical Assessment Skills Through Service-Learning Experiences Among Nursing Students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Experiential Learning
• Healthcare Skills Development

Background:

• Service-learning (SL) integration into undergraduate nursing curricula.
• Focus on non-clinical settings for early patient care exposure.
• Investigating the impact of SL on nursing students' assessment confidence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effect of service-learning on undergraduate nursing students' confidence in performing patient health assessments.
• To explore nursing students' experiences with service-learning in a preclinical setting.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of an experiential service-learning vital signs assessment.
• Completion of reflective journals by nursing students.
• Qualitative analysis of 30 randomly selected journals using a rapid analytic framework.

Main Results:

• Identification of key domains: overcoming initial fear, enhancing clinical assessment skills.
• Development of therapeutic communication and patient education abilities.
• Improvement in problem-solving skills through practical application.

Conclusions:

• Service-learning is effective in non-clinical, preclinical nursing education.
• SL experiences provide valuable patient care and critical reasoning introduction.
• Prepares students for subsequent clinical nursing courses effectively.