The effects of the flipped classroom in teaching evidence based nursing: A quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: Evidence-based nursing (EBN) has been an important training mechanism for improving the quality of clinical care. At present, the pedagogy focuses on the application of e-learning and team-based learning to enhance learners’ engagement and learning effectiveness. OBJECTIVES: This study applied the flipped classroom approach to conduct evidence-based nursing (EBN) teaching. The aim of this study is to elevate the learning effectiveness of the flipped classroom group to the traditional teaching group in terms of knowledge and self-efficacy in practice. DESIGN: A pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group with a quasi-experimental quantitative design. METHODS: The study recruited 151 nurses, of whom 75 were in the control group and 76 were in the experimental group. During the EBN course, the control group received training via traditional pedagogy while the experimental group engaged the flipped classroom approach. The learning effectiveness of EBN knowledge and self-efficacy in practice were evaluated across the three time points: pre-course, post-course, and one month after the course. RESULTS: In both group the scores of the EBN knowledge and self-efficacy in practice improved after training. The scores of the experimental group increased significantly than in the control group. However, the scores declined in both groups one month after the course. Even so, the experimental group’s score of self-efficacy in practice was still higher than that of the control group. CONCLUSION: The implementation of the flipped classroom approach and team-based learning effectively enhanced the learners EBN knowledge accumulation and self-efficacy in practice. The research results can be used as an important reference for improving clinical nursing teaching quality.