Teaching methods for promoting the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills in undergraduate nursing students: A systematic review

This study aimed to identify existing literature on teaching methods that facilitate the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills among undergraduate nursing students. In this systematic literature review, a comprehensive search of PubMed, Scopus, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was performed to identify relevant studies published up to March 2024. The following inclusion requirements were assessed: (a) clinical reasoning, clinical judgment, and critical thinking in nursing students as a main outcome measure; (b) articles published for the last nine years; (c) research conducted and published between February 2015 and March 2024; (d) articles published only in English; and (e) quantitative studies. The risk of bias in the included studies was assessed using standardized tools appropriate for the study designs. Of the 1,200 articles, ten papers were selected for analysis. The teaching methods nurse educators used to promote the acquisition of clinical reasoning by undergraduate nursing students included simulation gaming, self-instructional guides, clinical virtual simulation, unfolding case studies, high-fidelity simulation, web-based concept mapping, problem-solving, mobile applications, and case-based learning. In summary, various teaching methods are employed in combination to promote the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills among undergraduate nursing students. This systematic review presents a diverse range of teaching methods used to foster clinical reasoning skills. Further research is recommended to determine the most effective method for supporting the acquisition of clinical reasoning skills.