A contextual Clinical Reasoning Model

Today’s dynamic and complex health care systems require contemporary nurses to be effective thinkers and decision makers. To develop this clinical reasoning and decision making ability, students of nursing require time and development to achieve the required skills, competency and reasoning ability. Nursing students in Saudi Arabia undertake a period of nursing internship which represents a transitional period from their nursing college studies to the commencement of professional practice. Little is known however about how these internship programs assist in the development of the nursing interns’ clinical reasoning skills or their ability to make effective clinical judgements when involved in actual patient care situations. The aim of this study is to determine the contextual nature and influences of a medical/surgical clinical internship program on the development of clinical reasoning in a cohort of female Saudi Arabian nursing interns.