Abstract
Clinical reasoning is a vital competence for nursing students, as it is required for solving problems arising in complex clinical situations. Identifying the factors that influence nursing students’ clinical reasoning competence in the social context can help their implicit educational needs. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the factors associated with developing clinical reasoning competency among undergraduate nursing students. In total, 206 senior nursing students were included in this study. Self-reported measures were used to obtain data on participants’ clinical reasoning competence, problem-solving abilities, academic self-efficacy, and level of clinical practicum stress. Relationships among continuous variables were analyzed using Pearson’s correlation coefficients. A multiple linear regression analysis was conducted to identify factors related to clinical reasoning competence. Our findings show that participants with better problem-solving abilities and academic self-efficacy perceived themselves as having higher levels of clinical reasoning competence. Nursing students with lower clinical practicum stress reported higher clinical reasoning competence. Significant factors identified were younger age and subcategories of problem-solving ability such as problem clarification, alternative solution development, planning/implementation, and self-regulated efficacy. Our findings highlight essential factors necessary for developing a nursing curriculum that contributes to professional nurses’ clinical reasoning competence.
Highlights
This study aimed to determine and analyze the factors associated with clinical reasoning competence in undergraduate nursing students
Clinical reasoning competence plays a pivotal role in solving various problems that occur in clinical nursing settings
This study found that problem-solving ability and academic self-efficacy were significant factors that affect clinical reasoning competence
Summary
Clinical reasoning enhances nursing students’ problem-solving abilities in increasingly complex clinical situations. Clinical reasoning competence is regarded as a unique and dynamic process facilitating in-depth analyses of patients’ health problems, enabling safe nursing care [1]. Clinical reasoning is emphasized in nursing education. In South Korea, the Korean Accreditation Board of Nursing Education highlighted nursing students’ clinical reasoning abilities as being important in the process of measuring learning outcomes [2]. The nursing process is a reflective cycle involving interactions between nurses, their patients, and various environmental factors [3]. Clinical reasoning is neither temporary nor linear but a cyclical nursing process within the limits of patients’ circumstances and nurses’
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