The efficacy of patient-in-classroom instruction compared to traditional lectures: a quasi-experimental study in nursing education.

backgroundTraditional, lecture-based nursing education often fails to prepare students for real-world patient care. This study evaluates experiential learning through direct patient engagement to bridge this theory-practice gap.

methodsThis quasi-experimental study employed a two-group, post-test-only design. A sample of 700 nursing students was determined through a priori power analysis. Participants were non-randomly assigned (quasi-experimental allocation due to intact classroom groups) to intervention (n = 350, patient-in-classroom teaching) or control (n = 350, traditional lectures) over 14 weeks. Teaching quality was measured using a validated 13-item questionnaire assessing four domains. Primary analyses used Mann-Whitney U tests with Cohen's d for effect size (α = 0.05).

resultsThe intervention group demonstrated statistically significant superiority across all teaching quality domains (P < 0.001). The mean total teaching quality score was 11.07 points higher in the intervention group (58.13 ± 4.44) compared to the control (47.06 ± 6.73), with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 1.94). Domain-specific analyses revealed large effect sizes: conceptual learning (d = 1.91), instructional organization (d = 2.01), pedagogical methods (d = 2.15), and student engagement (d = 1.97). However, the large effect sizes should be interpreted cautiously given the potential for Hawthorne effects and social desirability bias inherent in self-reported perceptions.

conclusionThe patient-in-classroom method was associated with significantly higher perceived teaching quality compared to traditional lectures. These findings suggest that this experiential approach may be a valuable addition to nursing curricula; however, further research using objective outcome measures is needed to establish effects on clinical competence and long-term learning outcomes.