ABSTRACT
Objective:To explore the effect of applying the wound dressing training based on Thorndike's learning theory (WCTT) in clinical nursing education.Methods:The study conducted controlled trial among nursing interns selected from Thyroid Surgery Department of West China Hospital of Sichuan University, and the nursing students were divided into the experimental group ( n=51) and the control group ( n=49). Nursing students in the experimental group were trained with WCTT, while the control group adopted the traditional teaching. Two groups were investigated by the ability of wound dressing questionnaire and were examined on the practical wound dressing operation to evaluate the teaching effect. SPSS 20.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results:Nursing students in the experimental group showed a higher self-evaluation on such aspects as understanding, interests, theoretical mastery, evaluation of wounds, practical skills, independence, fulfillment and model assessment. Meanwhile, the experimental group had a higher score of practical wound dressing operation than the control group [(93.25±2.11) points vs. (90.06±2.43) points] ( P<0.05). Conclusion:In clinical nursing teaching, WCTT could improve the wound dressing ability, independence and enthusiasm of nursing students, and this training mode had a positive effect on the clinical nursing teaching efficiency, which is worth further promotion.