Strategies to Teach the National Council of State Boards of Nursing Clinical Judgment Model

Background: There is a growing concern that novice nurses who achieve licensure do not have the clinical judgment to practice safely. The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) began the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) project to find methods to better assess entry-level competency. The NGN project is based on an integrative clinical judgment model (CJM) with 6 well-defined cognitive steps. Problem: Teaching and assessing clinical judgment skills using the NCSBN-CJM will take faculty planning and commitment. Approach: Clinical scenarios can be used to teach clinical judgment. Using prompts, instructors can deliberately lead students through the steps of recognizing cues, analyzing cues, prioritizing hypothesis, generating solutions, taking action, and evaluating outcomes. Conclusion: Committing to integrating a CJM throughout the curriculum, using realistic clinical scenarios, and having students work through all the steps of a selected model are important ways educators can help students prepare for safe clinical practice.