Construction and application of clinical nursing intern teaching system from the perspective of educational ecology: A quasi-experiment study

This quasi-experimental study evaluated an educational ecology theory-based clinical teaching system for nursing interns at a Chinese grade III-A hospital (March 2019–July 2021). Seventy interns were divided into intervention (n = 35, receiving ecology-enhanced teaching) and control (n = 35, conventional training) groups, with 16 clinical instructors participating (10 teaching both groups). Results from 63 final participants showed the intervention group significantly outperformed controls in academic self-efficacy (85.03 ± 8.24 vs 73.80 ± 6.12, P < .05), clinical thinking ability (43.00 ± 5.48 vs 38.30 ± 6.91), and performance scores (87.79 ± 4.56 vs 83.80 ± 4.21). Instructors demonstrated significantly improved teaching self-efficacy (129.10 ± 13.68 vs 116.00 ± 13.63, P < .05). The findings validate the educational ecology model’s dual benefits for both nursing interns’ clinical competencies and instructors’ teaching effectiveness, suggesting its potential for broader application in medical education reform.