Background: Clinical judgment encompasses how nurses use their knowledge of the patient to generate, assess, and prioritize patient care alternatives. Previous research has identified debriefing as critical to developing clinical judgment. Best practice for debriefing has yet to be identified. The purpose of this research was to investigate whether a standard debriefing script, based on Tanner's clinical judgment model, could foster clinical judgment. Method: Participants were senior nursing students in their final semester of study. Data were gathered and analyzed from three sources: independent raters observing students in simulation, participating students, and the students' clinical instructors. Results: Students identified the script as an effective debriefing tool, and significant improvements were observed in clinical judgment scores from all data sources. Conclusion: The standardized debriefing script helped students focus on the learning process, resulting in student improvement in all areas of clinical judgment: noticing, interpreting, responding, and reflecting.
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