Tracking Clinical Judgment Development in Clinical Education With the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric

Background: Clinical judgment is essential to safe nursing practice, yet limited research has examined how it can be consistently assessed in clinical education. Purpose: This study explored the use of the Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR) to assess clinical judgment in prelicensure nursing students during clinical experiences, with simulation data included as a comparator. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study followed 53 students across 4 semesters. Students were evaluated 35 times in clinical and simulation using the LCJR. Results: Correlations between clinical and simulation scores were strong in Semester 1 but weak thereafter. LCJR scores in clinical experiences increased significantly across semesters, with the largest gains between Semesters 2 and 3. Conclusion: The LCJR demonstrated sensitivity to developmental change in clinical experiences, supporting its potential as a standardized tool for longitudinal evaluation. Simulation provided a useful point of comparison, highlighting differences in how judgment is expressed and assessed across learning environments.