Date of Award
Spring 2023
Document Type
Project – Full Written
Degree Name
Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)
Committee Chair
Cindy Miller
Abstract
There is a crisis in competency among new nurses in the United States. Prelicensure nursing education prepares them to pass the NCLEX-RN, but it does not provide the necessary foundation for sound clinical decision-making. Mistakes in the clinical setting can lead to failure to rescue, resulting in the third leading cause of death: medical error. A radical change is needed to prepare nurses with the clinical judgment skills necessary for patient care. Educators must be mindful of the academic-practice gap and adopt evidence-based improvements, including active learning with unfolding case studies. This quality improvement project involved a four-part unfolding case study in lieu of a traditional lecture to teach content to first-semester nursing students. A significant improvement (p < 0.05) in the Clinical Application Thinking Skills subsection of the ATI RN Content Mastery Series® 2019 Proctored Fundamentals Test resulted.
Recommended Citation
Cook, Carol, "Using Unfolding Case Studies to Develop Critical Thinking in First-Semester Nursing Students" (2023). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 68.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing-dnp/68
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