Problem-Based Learning in Advanced Health Assessment: Enhancing Critical Thinking and Diagnostic Reasoning

Graduate nursing faculty are challenged to prepare advanced practice nurses who are proficient in critical thinking and diagnostic reasoning. Passive learning methods, such as lectures, do not stimulate the thinking skills necessary to promote the transition from the role of the traditional nurse to the advanced practice nurse. As more and more nursing courses are offered online, it is crucial that faculty use innovative teaching strategies to help students synthesize and apply new knowledge.  The purpose of this poster presentation is to share how an innovative approach to problem-based learning may be utilized in an online advanced health assessment course.

     Problem-based learning stimulates the student to analyze the appropriate data through symptom analysis. The student begins with the patient’s symptoms and examines the symptoms by formulating different hypotheses to determine appropriate physical assessment techniques, pathophysiology, and ordering of diagnostic tests.

     The format and instructions were available to students on the course website known as Blackboard.  The course consisted of five learning modules. The module content was organized based on body systems. Each module consisted of case studies posted in a discussion board. Symptoms that were provided were brief and abstract to enhance diagnostic reasoning in generating more differential diagnoses. The students were tasked with posting appropriate history questions based on the patient’s symptoms. Course faculty guided the discussions. Each student delineated three diagnoses for each case study. The required components included physical assessment findings, pathophysiology, and diagnostic tests that would support each diagnosis. 

     Students in the Advanced Health Assessment course reported a positive learning experience using problem-based learning. Course evaluation and student reflections on the value of this experience will be shared. This teaching strategy provided students flexibility in analyzing patient symptoms while providing structure for the reasoning process.