FACTORS THAT AFFECT THE CLINICAL REASONING COMPETENCIES AMONG UNDERGRADUATE NURSING STUDENTS : A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY
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Keywords
clinical reasoning, students, clinical, Nursing education
Abstract
Background: Clinical reasoning (CR) is vital for clinical practice and patient safety and can be very important in the health professions. Health profession educators generally believe that CR has to be taught clearly and longitudinally in health profession education. The aim of the study was to determine the factors that affect the clinical reasoning competencies of undergraduate nursing students.
Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from September to December 2023 in the nursing institutes of Khyber Pukhtankhwa, Pakistan. Data was collected from 323 participants using a convenient sampling technique. The study instrument was a validated and reliable questionnaire of the Clinical Reasoning Competency Scale with a Cronbach alpha of 0.90. Independent sample t-tests, ANNOVA and multiple linear regression were used for data analysis through SPSS 22. The study was approved by the institutional review committee, and informed consent was obtained from each participant.
Results: In this study, the maximum number of students were male (221; 85%), and the majority of the students academic performance was average 156 (60%). The overall mean score of clinical reasoning competencies was 60.0 ± 8.9, while there were significant differences within the groups of gender (0.021), age (0.000), clinical experience (0.000) and academic performance (0.007), while there were no significant differences within the groups of semester (0.140), living area (0.925), or college status (0.277) in clinical reasoning competencies.
Conclusion: The study concluded that undergraduate students, especially the final-year BSN students, had high clinical reasoning competencies due to their exposure to clinical practice was high. The academic performance of the students affects their clinical reasoning competencies, so to achieve more confidence in clinical reasoning, students require excellent academic performance.
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Atif Khan
Registered Nursing officer, Health department Khyber Pukhtankhwa - Pakistan
Fazal Haq
Registered Nursing Officer/Nursing Supervisor, Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital Swat - Pakistan
Saeedullah
Assistant Professor, Malak Ahmad Khan Institute of Health Sciences, Chakdara Malakand KPK - Pakistan
Nouman Khan
Registered Nursing Officer, Saidu Group of Teaching Hospital Swat - Pakistan