Integrating “Post-Curriculum-Competition-Certification” into geriatric nursing education

With the further intensification of the aging process, there is a serious shortage of elderly care service personnel, and an urgent need to cultivate highly qualified and skilled geriatric care professionals. Given that vocational nursing students represent a vital reserve of future geriatric care professionals, it is of significant practical importance for nursing educators to explore educational models aimed at enhancing the comprehensive abilities of these students. This study aims to explore the integration of “Post-Curriculum-Competition-Certification” in geriatric nursing curriculum and to investigate whether this approach is associated with changes in nursing students’ critical thinking ability, problem-solving ability, and humanistic care ability. A total of 219 nursing sophomore students were enrolled in a three-year education program in the Department of Nursing at a college in Shanghai, China. Data were collected using a structured questionnaire that included four sections: general information, the critical thinking disposition inventory, the social problem-solving inventory revised, and the humanistic care ability evaluation scale. A single-group pre–post design without a control group was adopted. A paired t-test was used to compare pre-test and post-test scores for critical thinking ability, problem-solving ability, and humanistic care ability using SPSS version 21.0. After the integrated teaching model, the participation rate of 219 students in online platform learning reached over 95%, the participation rate in scenario simulation and practice was 100%, and the completion rate of daily homework was 100%. Post-test scores for critical thinking ability, problem-solving ability, and humanistic care ability were significantly higher than pre-test scores (critical thinking ability: t = 2.319, P = 0.021; problem-solving ability: t = 9.491, P < 0.001; humanistic care ability: t = 5.740, P < 0.001). The integration of “Post-Curriculum-Competition-Certification” in the geriatric nursing curriculum was associated with positive changes in nursing students’ critical thinking ability, problem-solving ability, and humanistic care ability. These preliminary findings suggest that the integrated teaching model may be a useful educational approach and may provide a practical reference for addressing the challenges of population aging and cultivating high-quality geriatric nursing professionals. Not applicable.