Clinical judgment skills among junior-level nursing students enrolled in adult health nursing courses: Errors and risk level classification

As the acuity of patients increases, so does the requirement for nurses who are capable of making proper clinical judgment for safe and quality patients' care. Assessment of students' clinical judgment at different stages of their nursing program is thus required. This descriptive cross-sectional study assessed the clinical judgment of 55 junior nursing students using a questionnaire that required participants to rate the severity and perceived risk and identify factors leading to errors described in four vignettes. Participants' perceptions of the impact of the errors described in the four vignettes differed. However, satisfactory agreement on error risk was evident (the highest rating ranged from 36% to 53.6%). Lack of clinical knowledge and experience and excessive workload were the most commonly identified contributory factors. Many of the junior nursing students in the study showed capability for critical analysis and classifications of error, risks, and associated factors. Based on current study results on error classification, associated risk and potential contributors the overall agreement of the students was moderate. Therefore, there is a need to increase efforts to impart higher clinical judgment skills to students enrolled in nursing education, for which regular longitudinal assessment is required.