Effects of Online Unfolding Case Studies on Clinical Reasoning and Academic Performance of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Bushra Sultan; Gideon Victor; Farah Naeem; Hajira Gul

doi:10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001244

Effects of Online Unfolding Case Studies on Clinical Reasoning and Academic Performance of Undergraduate Nursing Students

Nurs Educ Perspect. 2024 Feb 29. doi: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001244. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Bushra Sultan¹, Gideon Victor, Farah Naeem, Hajira Gul

Affiliation

¹ About the Authors Bushra Sultan, MSN, RN; Gideon Victor, MHPE, RN; Farah Naeem, MPH, RN; and Hajira Gul, MSN, RN, are faculty at Shifa College of Nursing, Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University, Islamabad, Pakistan. For more information, contact Gideon Victor at gideon.scn@stmu.edu.pk.

PMID: 38466159
DOI: 10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000001244

Abstract

A single-episode online case study increases cognitive load in contrast to an unfolding online case study, which decreases cognitive load, improves academic performance, and enhances clinical reasoning. However, online utilization of unfolding case studies is limited. A one-group pretest posttest experimental design was employed with 45 nursing students in a pathophysiology course. Data were collected using Lasater's clinical reasoning scale and quiz scores to assess academic performance. The academic performance and clinical reasoning of nursing students were significantly higher with online unfolding case studies (p < .001), providing support for the use of the online unfolding case study method.