To evaluate the impact of game-based teaching on undergraduate nursing students' learning satisfaction, clinical thinking, clinical skills, and anxiety.
Systematic review and meta-analysis.
China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, Weipu, SinoMed, CINAHL, PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Embase. Our systematic literature search was conducted up to 31 October 2024 and included all studies published before this date, with no restrictions on publication year.
The study quality was appraised using version 1 of the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and the JBI Critical Appraisal Tools for Quasi-Experimental Studies. A meta-analysis was performed using STATA version 12.
1712 undergraduate nursing students from 19 studies were included. Meta-analysis showed that game-based teaching improved undergraduate nursing students' learning satisfaction, critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and clinical skills. Game-based teaching did not significantly enhance undergraduate nursing students' problem-solving skills.
Our research findings indicated that game-based teaching had more significant potential to enhance undergraduate nursing students' learning satisfaction, critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and clinical skills. However, game-based teaching did not show a substantial advantage in improving problem-solving skills compared to other teaching methods. Limited studies of the effects of game-based teaching on clinical reasoning and anxiety in nursing students cannot be meta-analysed. Future studies could improve how game-based learning is designed to support undergraduate nursing students' development of these competencies.
This study explores the effects of game-based teaching in nursing education and finds that it promotes learning satisfaction, critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and clinical skills in undergraduate nursing students, while having no significant effect on problem-solving skills. Game-based teaching can be a functional pedagogical approach to guide nursing educators to improve learning outcomes for undergraduate nursing students.
Inapplicable.
The resilience education of intern nursing students has significant implications for the development and improvement of the nursing workforce. The clinical internship period is a critical time for enhancing resilience.
To evaluate the resilience level of Chinese nursing interns and explore the effects of factors affecting resilience early in their careers, focusing on the mediating roles of career adaptability between clinical learning environment and resilience.
The cross-sectional study design was adopted. From March 2022 to May 2023, 512 nursing interns in tertiary care hospitals were surveyed online with the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale, the Clinical Learning Environment Scale for Nurse and the Career Adapt-Abilities Scale. Structural equation modelling was used to clarify the relationships among these factors. Indirect effects were tested using bootstrapped confidence intervals.
The nursing interns showed a moderately high level of resilience [M (SD) = 70.15 (19.90)]. Gender, scholastic attainment, scholarship, career adaptability and clinical learning environment were influencing factors of nursing interns' resilience. Male interns with good academic performance showed higher levels of resilience. Career adaptability and clinical learning environment positively and directly affected their resilience level (β = 0.62, 0.18, respectively, p < .01). Career adaptability was also positively affected by the clinical learning environment (β = 0.36, p < .01), and mediated the effect of clinical learning environment on resilience (β = 0.22, p < .01).
Clinical learning environment can positively affect the resilience level of nursing interns. Career adaptability can affect resilience directly and also play a mediating role between clinical learning environment and resilience. Thus, promotion of career adaptability and clinical teaching environment should be the potential strategies for nursing interns to improve their resilience, especially for female nursing interns with low academic performance.
The incidence of cancer continues to increase, and cancer patients still suffer from a range of burdens, leading to decreased quality of life. AI has been increasingly studied in the field of cancer care, demonstrating its enormous potential. However, most AI applications in cancer care are still in the developmental stage, and the strength of evidence from randomized controlled trials is not yet sufficient.
To evaluate the effects of AI-enhanced interventions in randomized controlled trials conducted in clinical settings and the impact of AI-enhanced interventions on the health outcomes of adult cancer patients.
Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Nine databases (MEDLINE, Embase, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, CINAHL, PsycINFO, Web of Science, CNKI, VIP, and Sinomed) were systematically searched, and metadata analysis was performed using R software and R Studio. The quality of the included studies was evaluated using the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool (RoB2) and the GRADE approach. The process was independently completed by two authors. The intervention effect was estimated by calculating the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI) using a random-effects model.
A total of ten articles were included. Meta-analysis results showed that AI-enhanced interventions can significantly improve the quality of life (SMD 0.89, 95% CI 0.06–1.73), symptom burden (SMD −0.81, 95% CI −1.44 to −0.18), anxiety (SMD −0.20, 95% CI −0.32 to −0.07), and self-efficacy (SMD 0.55, 95% CI 0.06 to 1.03) of cancer patients. The type of AI application and the duration of the intervention had an impact on the quality of life of cancer patients: the effect of algorithm recommendations (SMD 1.49, 95% CI 0.04–2.93) was better than that of risk alerts (SMD 0.33, 95% CI 0.03–0.63), and the effect of short-term interventions (< 3 months) (SMD 1.49, 95% CI 0.04–2.93) was better than that of long-term interventions (≥ 3 months) (SMD 0.19, 95% CI −0.04 to 0.43). Sensitivity analysis showed that the results of this study were stable and reliable.
AI-enhanced interventions are effective tools for improving patient outcomes. When integrating AI into clinical practice for cancer patients, priority should be given to the type of technology involved, ensuring its acceptability by enhancing perceived usefulness. AI technology should be adopted to relieve clinical nurses from documentation and low-complexity tasks, thereby addressing concerns about the loss of “humanistic care.” We recommend the formal integration of AI literacy frameworks, such as N.U.R.S.E.S., into nursing education and practice.
Trial Registration: PROSPERO (registration number: CRD420251040938).
Improving global access to pain management medications for cancer patients remains a critical priority. Nurses are now understood to play an essential role in cancer pain medication management, yet the barriers and facilitators they encounter require urgent identification.
This systematic review aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators for nurses in managing cancer pain medication.
This systematic review followed the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI)'s guidelines for qualitative systematic reviews.
Eleven databases (PubMed, Web of Science, the Cochrane Library, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, Scopus, OPENGREY.EU, China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), Wanfang Database, China Science and Technology Journal Database (VIP) and SinoMed) were searched from their inception to 9th July 2025. Articles were evaluated for quality using JBI critical appraisal tools. Data extraction was performed according to JBI standardised protocols, and evidence synthesis was conducted using JBI meta-aggregation, which involved extracting findings, categorising them into thematic groups and synthesising them into comprehensive statements.
Twenty-four qualitative studies were reviewed in the present study. Two synthesised findings regarding the barriers and facilitators for nurses in managing cancer pain medication were integrated: (1) Barriers for nurses to manage cancer pain medication were summarised into five categories: systemic barriers, resource barriers, knowledge and skills barriers, financial and cultural barriers and communication and psychological barriers; (2) Facilitators for nurses to manage cancer pain medication were summarised into three categories: nursing capacity building, supportive care environments and collaborative support systems.
Multilevel barriers impede nurse-led cancer pain management, necessitating policy reforms (e.g., tiered prescribing), investments in telehealth/training and culturally responsive interprofessional collaboration. Prioritising facilitators, capacity building, supportive environments and collaboration is vital to empower nurses in delivering equitable, evidence-based pain relief.
This review equips clinical managers and policymakers with evidence to implement policy and practice reforms, such as tiered prescribing and interprofessional collaboration, which are critical to empower nurses in delivering effective cancer pain management.
This systematic review was prospectively registered in PROSPERO prior to the initiation of the search (Registration ID: CRD42024570807).
There was no patient or public contribution.