Student Success Through Mastery Learning in a Nursing Health Assessment Course

Abstract

Background: A nurse's ability to assess a patient is foundational to practice. The educational theory of mastery learning can be applied to teach physical assessment in nursing to define standards, provide feedback, and encourage a baseline level of student competence required in the new American Association of Colleges of Nursing's Essentials . Method: A baccalaureate nursing health assessment course was redesigned in mastery learning to include detailed rubrics, faculty exemplar videos, and laboratory time for practice. Student-produced physical assessment videos served as formative assessments for each body system. Results: Six students did not reach the assigned mastery level on one of the formative assessments, allowing for quick identification and remediation. All of the students passed the end-of-course physical assessment examination, meeting the goal of the course redesign. Conclusion: Mastery Learning Theory allowed all students to practice skills, receive feedback, and gain confidence to master physical assessment. [ J Nurs Educ . 2022;61(12):720–723.]