Study goal
This study aimed to explore the perceptions of first-year undergraduate students regarding the development of clinical reasoning and collaborative decision-making through virtual patient simulation.
2025
Research
Paper
Early Development of Clinical Reasoning Through Virtual Patient Simulation: Nursing Students’ Perceptions of Collaborative Decision-Making
Citation
Sales L, Ferreira M, Pereira R, Lucas I, Marques R, Bento I. Early development of clinical reasoning through virtual patient simulation: nursing students’ perceptions of collaborative decision-making. Nurs Rep 2026;16:152. doi:10.3390/nursrep16050152.
Key-words
simulation, computer simulation, virtual patients, clinical reasoning, critical thinking, clinical decision-making, nursing education, patient safety
Conclusions
First-year nursing students perceived group-based virtual patient simulation as a valuable way to begin developing clinical reasoning, especially through realistic scenarios, collaboration, feedback, and guided reflection.
The practical conclusion of the research is that virtual simulation should be intentionally integrated into the nursing curriculum, with clear alignment between learning objectives, assessment, teacher facilitation, structured debriefing, and opportunities for reflection. The authors also recommend future mixed-methods research using objective clinical reasoning measures.
