The efficacy of problem solving strategies utilized in professional nursing concepts course to improve problem solving abilities in students enrolled in a two-year baccalaureate nursing program

Using problem solving strategies in professional nursing concepts course (PS-PNC) was a newly developed core course in a two-year baccalaureate nursing program in an institute of technology. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of problem solving strategies used in this new course to improve students' clinical problem solving abilities. Prior to the PS-PNC, 12 faculty who participated in the teaching received complete training, and then continued to receive supervision and to conduct group discussions during the whole period of the PS-PNC implementation. A one-group posttest design with repeated measures was used. In total 49 nursing students from one class agreed to be recruited as the study subjects. The PS-PNC was per formed separately in three semesters. After each class learning, students would start their clinical practice, were advised by the same faculty group who participated in the PS-PNC, and were asked to submit three written nursing process recordings during each clinic. Assignments from the three practices were named post-test I, II, and III sequentially, and provided the data for this study. A coding strategy was developed by the investigators. Then, data were collected and analyzed by four selected faculty who had been involved in the PS-PNC. The over all score of problem solving indicated that the three post-tests significantly increased, meaning those students' clinical problem solving ability improved. However, data on the sub-concepts of problem solving on nursing assessment, nursing diagnosis, nursing intervention, and nursing evaluation showed no constant improvement. It is inferred that teaching of professional nursing concepts utilizing problem-solving strategies may be useful for future nursing students but dignified control should be strengthened.