Clinical Teaching During the Pandemic: Analysing Clinical Judgment Learning in the Undergraduate Nursing Degree with webQDA® Software

Introduction: Clinical teaching allows nursing students to develop essential skills for clinical practice, improving individualized care for the person, family, and community. In this real-world context of care, students learn how to make accurate and safe clinical judgments about the care situation in which they are involved. Case-based learning occurs in the context of clinical teaching. Its discussion among students, clinical supervisors, and individual tutors are strategies that promote the development of clinical judgment. The pandemic changed nursing education, conditioning the presence of nursing teachers in clinical contexts and multiple constraints for students. Objectives: To describe the importance of learning clinical judgment in the clinical teaching context of nursing students and to identify the factors that interfere with this learning during the pandemic context. Methods: Qualitative, exploratory, and descriptive study, with data collection occurring through an online focus group with six students in the last clinical course of the Undergraduate Nursing Program. Data analysis was performed by content analysis, according to Bardin, using the webQDA® software. Results: In the dimensions ‘Contributions of Clinical Judgment Learning in Clinical Teaching’, the most appreciated category was ‘Learning Environment’. The most valued category for ‘Factors that Interfere with Clinical Judgment Learning’ was ‘Essence for Action’. Conclusions: Clinical teaching is a privileged space for developing the necessary skills for clinical practice. From the students’ perspective, clinical judgment is essential for adequate nursing intervention. The pandemic impacted clinical judgment learning, having been considered a challenging factor in learning.