Objective To evaluate the effect of clinical pathway (CP) teaching methods versus traditional methods in nursing clinical teaching.
Methods The following electronic databases as PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, CBM and CNKI were retrieved on computer from their establishment to April 2011 to search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of comparing CP with traditional methods in nursing clinical teaching. The methodological quality of the included RCTs was assessed by two reviewers independently according to the scale of criteria for methodological quality developed by Smits PB, and the meta-analysis was conducted by using the Cochrane Collaboration’s RevMan5.1 software.
Results A total of 12 RCTs involving 1 269 participants were included, and nine of them were of high quality. The meta-analyses showed that compared with the traditional teaching method, the CP teaching tended to be superior (P lt;0.05) in improving nursing students’ objective knowledge, nursing operating skills, professional ability and satisfaction with teaching methods, and in improving patients’ satisfaction as well.
Conclusion The clinical pathway teaching method is a scientific teaching model in nursing clinical teaching; it standardizes the teaching procedure, promotes students’ active learning and further enhances the teaching effect. But it is necessary to unify the method of assessment with more researches. In addition, researchers should pay more attention to improving the comprehensive quality of nursing students.
Citation： ZHANG Jun,YANG Kehu,TIAN Jinhui,WANG Chunmei. Effects of Clinical Pathway in Nursing Clinical Teaching: A Meta-analysis. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2011, 11(10): 1210-1216. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.20110203 Copy