COMPETENCY- BASED MASTERY LEARNING: A PLANNED CLINICAL EXPERIENCE FOR NURSING STUDENTS

Clinical education is one of the most important and crucial parts of nursing education. Successful clinical education needs to adopt effective and new approaches to be more helpful. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of competency-based mastery learning on practical learning of nursing students.

In a quasi-experimental study using pre-test and post-test with two group design, 28 nursing students were selected through census sampling method and placed randomly in two control and two experiment groups, each group containing six to seven people. After taking the cognitive skills pre-tests, the control group received traditional education and experiment group went under clinical education using competency-based mastery learning program for 12 days. As the final step, the post-test cognitive skills were held and behaviors skill checklist were observed. The data were analyzed by SPSS software using Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney tests and Pearson correlation coefficient.

The findings showed that the participation of the competency-based mastery learning was effective in promoting their knowledge and skills. The mean scores differed significantly before and after participating in competency-based mastery learning. There also was a significant difference before and after clinical competency nurse training in traditional education group and competency-based mastery learning group.

Competency-based mastery learning promises high level of learning for students, it seems that competency-based mastery learning was structured to maximize opportunities for learning and professional development and clinical competency.