A comparative study of teacher directed and self directed methods of teaching clinical skills to undergraduate nursing students

The undergraduate nursing degree has within its curriculum a practical component that enables students to gain the skills required to function effectively in the clinical setting. These skills are often taught in the laboratory setting using a structured teacher directed approach. This study used a ‘post‐test only’experimental design to compare clinical skills acquisition (both cognitive and psychomotor) of students participating in two different teaching‐learning modalities: (i) teacher directed; and (ii) self directed learning. The sample consisted of 59 year 2 nursing students enrolled in the acute care subject. The results demonstrated that, although students acquired a variety of skills by participation in either method of teaching‐learning, those who undertook self directed learning showed a higher level of competency. The reasons for this difference require further investigation.