About the Book

Students can learn about the Caputi Clinical Judgment Framework in the student textbook.

Think Like a Nurse

The Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment, 2nd Edition, 2026
USA Version

Research demonstrates that using the Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment teaches students to be better thinkers. Dr. Kerns and Wedgeworth (2024) from the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, conducted research with students at multiple universities using the Caputi Clinical Judgment Framework. The researchers explored the usefulness of the Caputi Framework to teach students how to think. Their research revealed that when using the Caputi Clinical Judgment Framework the students in their study were better prepared to complete the following cognitive tasks.

• Students were better able to notice a patient’s declining status by using Caputi’s clinical judgment competency (thinking skill) of comparing and contrasting data. Students learned to compare their patient’s current and past breathing patterns and learned to notice breathing that was erratic and shallow.
• Caputi’s clinical judgment competencies guided students to think more deeply by teaching them to (1) assess accurately, systematically, and comprehensively; (2) note inconsistencies; and (3) ask if they needed to gather additional information before analyzing the data to determine the patient’s problem.
• Finally, when students interpreted their findings, they were able to prioritize and manage the patient’s care.

Kerns, C., & Wedgeworth, M. (2024). Barriers and facilitators experienced by undergraduate nursing faculty teaching clinical judgment: A qualitative study, SAGE Open Nursing. Volume 10: 1–11. DOI: 10.1177/23779608241274728 Access at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/23779608241274728

Using Think Like a Nurse: The Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment also helps to increase NCLEX^® pass rates. After learning the Caputi clinical judgment competencies in the classroom, application in the clinical is the end goal for learning clinical judgment and can improve the thinking needed when taking the NCLEX^®. Roberts Wesleyan University adopted Think Like a Nurse: The Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment as a student textbook. After learning the Caputi framework, students used clinical judgment tools based on those in the textbook but adapted to align with their curriculum. Students used those tools across the program. The school has shared that their 1st time NCLEX^® pass rate for their cohort graduating in May, 2025 improved to 96%.

The 2026 edition of Think Like a Nurse: The Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment, 2^nd Edition continues the work of developing the Caputi Method that has evolved over 25 years and incorporates the full essence of what clinical judgment actually is. The overall goal of this book is to transform an elusive concept—clinical judgment—to an easy-to-learn and understand process applied to nursing. For too long students have been unsure what thinking in nursing really is. For too long faculty have been led by the misunderstanding that when presenting case scenarios and clinical situations, if students can correctly answer higher cognitive level questions, that means they have learned to use clinical judgment. These students did not learn what clinical judgment actually is; they were just asked questions with the presumption a correct answer meant they could think. This has been a long-standing misconception in nursing education. Answering a question correctly does not mean the student engaged in thinking to answer the question.

Students actually learning what clinical judgment is and how to use it in nursing requires more than learning about the 6 general cognitive processes of the NCSBN’s Clinical Judgment Measurement Model. Most resources explain the 6 cognitive processes then provide questions that align with each cognitive process. The critical missing piece in this approach is for students to learn the specific thinking that is done to use each cognitive process. That is the missing link. The Caputi Clinical Judgment Framework provides the detailed thinking skills used with each of the 6 cognitive processes.

This book teaches a clinical judgment framework that uses clinical judgment competencies (specific thinking skills) to apply learned nursing content to an individual patient situation. This represents a change in how we teach students to think and a change in how students learn to think. That is what this book is all about.

There are many activities in every chapter of Think Like a Nurse: The Caputi Method for Learning Clinical Judgment, 2^nd Edition to engage students in applying clinical judgment to patient care. These activities can, and should, be used by students when caring for patients in the clinical and simulations settings. They can also be used by faculty in the classroom when working through case studies so the focus is on connecting thinking to content within a specific patient situation, and not just a focus on content.

Click here to learn about what’s new in the 2026 Edition.