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

BACKGROUND

Nurse educators need strategies to help develop nursing students' clinical judgment skills to practice safely. Guided reflective writing is an active learning strategy that can increase learning and promote clinical judgment in patient care.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive study, guided by Tanner's Evidence Based Clinical Judgment Model, was to examine nursing student and faculty perspectives of the benefits and challenges of guided reflective writing for clinical judgment development following clinical experiences.

METHOD

Junior- and senior-level students participated in an open-ended survey regarding their experience of the guided reflective writing assignment postclinical. A focus group gained faculty perspectives of the assignment.

RESULTS

A final theme for each student group was developed: (1) organizes basic nursing care (Junior One students) and (2) sense of wholeness (Senior Two students). Progression in clinical judgment from Junior One to Senior Two students was noted. Faculty concurred with students' perspectives with their final theme, encourages deep thinking.

CONCLUSION

The results supported guided written reflection and clinical judgment development as key components to enhancing students' knowledge and preparation for complex nursing care. Guided reflective writing can be used as a reflection activity for clinical judgment development in a variety of settings including hospital, simulation, case studies, or virtual simulation.