Leveraging the Electronic Record: Nursing Student Development of Clinical Judgment

BACKGROUND: Nursing organizations have called for competencies that entry-level nurses must demonstrate for transition to practice, including demonstrating clinical judgment and use of informatics tools like the electronic health record (EHR). More information is needed to understand how the EHR supports clinical judgment in nursing students. METHOD: = 18) about EHR use. Content analysis was used to code statements in alignment with the domains of Tanner's clinical judgment model and the dimensions of the Lasater clinical judgment rubric. RESULTS: Students utilized the EHR to engage in clinical judgments associated with safe medication administration. Students described utilizing the EHR to inform all domains of clinical judgment, yet they engaged in the reflection domain least. There were barriers to student EHR use. CONCLUSION: The EHR is an important contributor to nursing clinical judgment and should be thoroughly integrated within prelicensure curriculum.