Cultivating Clinical Judgment in Pharmacological Decision-Making Through Reflection on Practice.

BACKGROUND

Competent clinical judgment about pharmacological therapies by nurses is essential for safe medication outcomes. This study examined the impact of postclinical pharmacology-focused reflective debriefing sessions on clinical judgment in prelicensure senior nursing students.

METHOD

A nonrandomized repeated measures design was used to compare clinical judgment of students who participated in an additional learning activity with students who did not. Data were collected using Lasater's Clinical Judgment Rubric.

RESULTS

Within-groups analysis of variance demonstrated statistically significant increases in clinical judgment scores at mid- and late-semester timepoints for the entire cohort of participants ( = 128). However, analysis of covariance showed no statistically significant differences in the clinical judgment scores for the intervention ( = 62) and control ( = 66) groups.

CONCLUSION

Clinical experiences provide opportunities for prelicensure students to develop clinical judgment about pharmacological therapies. Nurse educators must implement and evaluate strategies to foster this process. .