Flipping the Classroom to Optimize Clinical Decision-Making in the Didactic Setting

Background Deliberate inclusion of clinical decision-making nursing skills in the didactic setting will assist students in potentially making better patient care decisions. This can be optimized through use of the flipped learning andragogy. Flipped learning promotes an interactive classroom environment. It fosters teamwork and collaboration. Direct content instruction is the responsibility of students. Objective This cohort pilot study investigated how the flipped and nonflipped approach to teaching impacted clinical decision-making and student participation. Methods The Clinical Decision-Making in Nursing Scale (CDMNS) was administered to the students in the flipped classroom and the nonflipped classroom on week 1 and week 6. A student participation checklist was used to observe class activities at three separate intervals (baseline, mid-semester, and end-semester). A repeated measures analysis of covariance was conducted with Instruction Group as the between subjects factor (Flipped and Nonflipped) and Time (preinstruction and postinstruction) as the within subjects factor, and covarying age. The Time by the Instruction group was significant. The Flipped group showed an increase in Clinical decision-making scores ( p < .001) after instruction while the Nonflipped group did not ( p = .40). Results The Flipped group ( n = 24) showed an increase in Clinical decision-making scores ( p < .001) after instruction while the Nonflipped group ( n = 23) did not ( p = .40). The Flipped classroom showed 100% participation at baseline, mid-semester, and end of semester. The Nonflipped classroom showed overall lower levels of participation, with 42%, 33%, and 39% at each point respectively. Conclusion/Implications for Nursing Students who were taught using the flipped instruction were able to apply what they learned in relevant case studies, virtual simulations, and practice National Council Licensure Examination RN (NCLEX-RN) type questions. Through teamwork and collaboration, students had time to practice clinical decision-making skills. This was evident in the increased CDMNS scores and increased levels of participation over time in the flipped group when compared to the nonflipped group.