Book Description

"The growing complexity of health care requires nurses to know, watch, do, and manage more, with more interdisciplinary team members than ever before leaving newly graduated nurses lacking the ability to apply new technology safely and appropriately. Hence, the significance of effectively preparing senior nursing students (SNSs) through the development of clinical reasoning, clinical judgement and critical thinking skills in order to face the challenges of their new career. Therefore, the aim of this evidenced-based practice (EBP) change project was to build stronger critical thinking skills in SNSs; thereby, effectively preparing them for transition from college into the health care system. The population consisted of SNSs in a rigorous 24-month rigorous Associate Degree Nursing (ADN) program in an urban Pacific Northwest community. Nine SNSs participated in this EBP change project. This practice change implemented scenario based simulation centered learning experience (SCSBLE) followed with debriefing for meaningful learning (DML) to increase critical thinking skills in SNSs. The results of these learning experiences were very positive, with an increase from pre-testing to post-testing scores by 7.22% demonstrating an increase in critical thinking skills in addition to students verbally expressing better assessment skills post SCSBLE/DML. Concluding, through SCSBLE/DML experiences with SNSs critical thinking skills and confidence were built. Subsequent implementations must be administered with larger numbers of participants to solidify the evidence. Key words: Critical thinking; clinical judgement; clinical simulation; evidenced-based training; quality and safety practices " -- Abstract.