Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 May 9:30:2889.
doi: 10.4102/hsag.v30i0.2889. eCollection 2025.

Strategies to develop clinical reasoning in nursing students: A structured review

Adele Neethling  1 , Lizeth Roets  1
Affiliations
Review

Strategies to develop clinical reasoning in nursing students: A structured review

Adele Neethling et al. Health SA. .

Abstract

Background: Clinical reasoning, a critical skill for nursing practitioners, has been linked to positive patient outcomes. While experienced nurses often demonstrate clinical reasoning abilities, evidence exist that it can be taught and mastered, making its development a key responsibility of nursing education institutions.

Aim: To identify and describe teaching and learning strategies that can aid the development of clinical reasoning in nursing students.

Method: A structured literature review was conducted using the following databases: EBSCO Host (Academic Search Ultimate, PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC, and MasterFILE Premier), NEXUS (National Research Foundation), PubMed, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Full Text. Keywords included 'nursing education', 'clinical reasoning', 'teaching', 'learning', and 'teaching strategies' (N = 299). Filters reduced the number to 158, with a title review yielding 21 articles and the abstract review identified 18 articles for the final review.

Results: Three main strategies were identified: (1)simulation, (2) classroom activities, and (3) e-learning. Classroom strategies yielded the most results (eight), followed by simulation (six) and e-learning (four). Each strategy incorporated various teaching modalities.

Conclusion: All identified strategies and their modalities enhance clinical reasoning development.

Contribution: Nursing faculties should consider incorporating these strategies in line with their teaching philosophy and available resources.

Keywords: clinical reasoning; learning; nursing education; teaching; teaching strategies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Search strategy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Booher, C.D., 2016, A classroom activity to enable nursing students to develop clinical reasoning skills, University of Phoenix, viewed 24 February 2023, from https://www.proquest.com/openview/3f9531e1e4383296cf886c2ac40739e5/1?cbl....
    1. Carvalho, E.C., Oliveira-Kumakura, A.R. & Morais, S.C., 2017, ‘Clinical reasoning in nursing: Teaching strategies and assessment tools’, Revista Brasileira de Enfermagem 70(3), 662–668. 10.1590/0034-7167-2016-0509 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dalton, L., Gee, T. & Levett-Jones, T., 2015, ‘Using clinical reasoning and simulation-based education to “flip” the enrolled nurse curriculum’, Australian Journal of Advanced Nursing 32(2), 28–34. 10.37464/2016.332.1548 - DOI
    1. Deschênes, M.F., Goudreau, J., Fontaine, G., Charette, M., Da Silva, K.B., Maheu-Cadotte, M.A. et al. ., 2019, ‘Theoretical foundations of educational strategies used in e-learning environments for developing clinical reasoning in nursing students: A scoping review’, Nurse Education in Practice 41, 102632. 10.1016/j.nepr.2019.102632 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Dumas, D., Torre, D.M. & Durning, S.J., 2018, ‘Using relational reasoning strategies to help improve clinical reasoning practice’, Academic Medicine 93(5), 709–714. 10.1097/ACM.0000000000002114 - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources