Development of clinical decision-making among undergraduate nursing students: the effect of unfolding case-based learning

Abstract Objectives This prospective cohort study evaluated the effect of unfolding case-based learning on undergraduate nursing students’ self-perceived clinical decision-making ability. Methods Students’ self-reported responses to Jenkins’s Clinical Decision Making in Nursing Scale were compared between the unfolding case-based learning cohort (n=140) and the comparison cohort (n=126) at a school of nursing in the United States. Results The results revealed similar students’ responses between the two study cohorts. However, unfolding case-based learning significantly increased students’ perceived proficiency in “search for information and unbiased assimilation of new information”. Conclusions Findings from the present study highlight possibilities presented by unfolding case-based learning in undergraduate nursing education. The study supports that unfolding case studies can be introduced early on, and then nurtured throughout the undergraduate program to influence the development of nursing students’ clinical decision-making skills.