Enhancing Critical Thinking in Graduate Nursing Online Asynchronous Discussions

Educational strategies used in master's and doctoral nursing education: A scoping review

BACKGROUND

Advanced practice nurses and future nursing researchers must be adequately educated with the best available evidence. However, we know little about educational strategies and their characteristics used explicitly to educate advanced practice nurses and future researchers.

METHOD

A scoping review was used to map the latest educational strategies used in master's and doctoral nursing education between 2011 and 2021. Components of educational strategies were extracted based on the Guideline for Reporting Evidence-Based Practice Educational Interventions and Teaching and the Saskatchewan Education Department Framework of Professional Practice. The New World Kirkpatrick Model was used to categorize the associated learning outcomes. A narrative description approach was used to synthesize the findings.

RESULTS

A total of 56 studies were included. Several information was missing regarding the theoretical foundations of the educational strategies. A total of 158 educational strategies were identified. Individual work (e.g., homework) was the most popular educational strategy. Most studies assessed learning outcomes related to reactions (e.g., satisfaction) or learning (e.g., knowledge).

CONCLUSION

More studies should be done using interactive instruction or multimodal approaches, while the authors should better describe intervention components. A systematic review of effectiveness needs to be conducted to evaluate the best educational strategies in the master's and doctoral nursing education.

The correlation of metacognitive ability, self-directed learning ability and critical thinking in nursing students: A cross-sectional study

AIM

To understand the status quo of metacognitive ability (MA), Self-directed learning (SDL) ability and critical thinking (CT) ability of five-year higher vocational nursing students as well as the correlation among them.

BACKGROUND

MA, SDL ability and CT are the core abilities that nursing students must have and they are the important factors to improve students' nursing service quality and lifelong learning ability.

DESIGN

A quantitative and cross-sectional descriptive study.

METHOD

The survey collected data from 3,047 five-year vocational nursing students with questionnaires April-May in 2020.

RESULTS

The total score of MA was 81.18 (SD 13.51), SDL ability score was 220.28 (SD 35.09), and CT ability score was 271.96 (SD 26.08). The positive correlations were found between those three (p < .01).

CONCLUSIONS

The overall metacognitive ability of nursing students was not high, SDL ability and CT ability were both at a medium level. Health educators need pay attention to cultivation and development of the core competencies.