Abstract
The purpose of this study was to identify the impact of the dedicated education unit (DEU) on nursing students' critical thinking ability. The DEU is an innovative approach to clinical education, which uses clinical nurses with expert practice consistently in a competency-based experience. Participants (intervention and control groups) completed the Nursing Executive Center's Critical Thinking Diagnostic Assessment tool before and after clinical experience. Participants included 243 students with 179 non-DEU and 64 DEU students. There were significant increases in total pretest and posttest score means (P < .05) for the DEU (intervention) group. A significant change (P < .0001) was seen in critical thinking scores by category for both groups and in the intervention group on pretest and posttest scores, even after controlling for pretest scores (P < .0001). Results support the efficacy of the DEU model in developing critical thinking. Prior DEU studies have focused on implementation and satisfaction with the model.
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