A National Report on Clinical Judgment Model Use in Prelicensure Nursing Curricula

This study examined US prelicensure nursing program use of clinical judgment models and teaching strategies to promote students' clinical judgment.Growing interest in teaching clinical judgment associated with upcoming changes in NCLEX-RN testing warrants exploration of how models and teaching strategies are currently used.A cross-sectional survey with multiple-choice and open-ended response items was used to examine programs' use of clinical judgment educational models.Of 234 participants (9 percent response rate), 27 percent reported using a model; 51 percent intended and 20 percent did not intend to start using a model. Tanner's clinical judgment model was the most used, followed by the clinical reasoning cycle. Models were used to inform design of teaching/learning strategies and facilitate clinical teaching and evaluation.Clinical judgment model use may increase as programs prepare for changes in NCLEX-RN. Research is needed to understand how model use contributes to measurable differences in clinical judgment skill.