The Effect of Using Logbook on Nursing Students' Learning

Introduction: Proper educational programs should have an active and dynamic nature and be revised and modified following the received feedbacks. Clinical learning guide if integrated with interactive logbooks is considered an appropriate tool for clinical learning enhancement by providing opportunity for more interaction among student, clinical environment, and instructor. Therefore, this study was performed with the aim of investigating the effect of using logbooks on students' learning. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was performed on 25 internship nursing students. Based on a Delphi study, a clinical learning guide integrated to logbook was designed and developed for ICU and CCU wards. Then, students were randomly assigned into two groups of control and experiment. The control group was trained through usual method and the experiment group was taught using logbook in selected wards. Students' clinical learning was assessed considering cognitive and psychomotor domains in both groups. Results: The mean score of the experiment group in ICU ward in both cognitive and psychomotor domains was significantly higher than that of the control group. Although the experiment group's mean score in both domains in CCU ward increased compared to the control group but the difference was not significant. Conclusion: The increase in students' scores in both cognitive and psychomotor domains in ICU and CCU wards can be a motivation for applying this method in clinical education. Further studies on other educational wards are recommended in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of logbook on nursing students' clinical learning.