Assessment Of Clinical Reasoning Competencies Among Undergraduate Nursing Students

Abstract

Background: Clinical reasoning is a crucial skill in nursing education, enhancing problem-solving abilities and facilitating in-depth analyses of patients' health problems, thereby ensuring safe nursing care.Objective: the aim of the study was to evaluate the level of clinical reasoning competencies among nursing students.

Methodology: The study design was cross-sectional survey conducted in nursing institutes of khber pukhtankhwa, having sample size of 340 using convenient sampling technique. The data was collected using adopted valid and reliable CRC for data collection, while data were analyzed through SPSS 24 as descriptive and inferential statistics.Informed were obtained from the study participants while the study was approved by ethical review committee.

Results:  In this study, the majority of the students were male, with 229 (85.3%), and 165 (48.5%), age range were 23 to 26 years. The overall mean score of CRC was 59.7 ± 8.98, while the mean score in which the students mentioned that their CRC were high were; I can evaluate and assess if patient condition is improved (4.27 ± 0.72), I can set goal according to the problem of patient (4.17 ± 0.78), I know how to collect patient information correctly (4.16 ± 0.78), and i can provide accurate intervention according to the problem of patient (4.11 ± 0.88). Moreover the CRC were weakly positive correlated with gender, age, semester, and clinical experience while negative weakly correlated with clinical experience.

Conclusion: The study concluded that clinical reasoning is a comprehensive and recurrent cognitive process. It enables nursing students to appropriately assess the circumstances of their patients and select the best course of action from the available options.