Introduction: In Malaysian nursing education, concept mapping is not widely practiced among nurse
educators and students. Therefore, the researcher aims to develop and evaluate the impact of the
Rusnani Concept Mapping (RCM) protocol on academic achievement and clinical practices among
diploma nursing students. RCM is one of the teaching learning methods that specifies guidelines for
nurse educators to harmonise classroom and clinical setting methods. Method: RCM is a concept
mapping protocol guideline developed by the researcher and is validated with content and face validity
and the Delphi technique. The study design is quasi-experimental with two groups. The experimental
and control groups received education using RCM and the lecture method, respectively. Data were
analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics using paired t-tests. P values less than 0.05 were
interpreted as significant. Results: In the pre-test, the students taught using RCM had a mean
achievement score of 11.23 with and SD = 2.59, while at post-test, the mean achievement score was
13.19 with and SD = 1.71 and a mean gain score of 1.96. In contrast, students taught using lecture
method had a mean achievement score of 10.71 and SD = 2.23 in the pre-test and a mean score of
12.60, SD = 1.64 in post-test achievement with a mean gain score of 1.89. The post-test scores of the
experimental and control group were significantly different (t = 2.53, p < 0.05). The mean concept
mapping care plan score was 59.33 and 65.23, respectively, for the control group and experimental
group. The paired t-test revealed that there was a significant difference between experimental and
control groups, p value < 0.05. The result of students’ perceptions regarding concept mapping in the
experimental group showed as positive moderate with a mean score of 3.44. Conclusion: This study
provides additional evidence that RCM is instructionally valuable as a learning method and is an active
learning strategy for meaningful learning and motivating superior achievement in students.
Excellence in academic and practical skills is the main goal of most nursing educators. It is a tool to measure the level of success of the nurse educators. Concept mapping care plan is related to the expectation that today's nursing students must master a constantly expanding body of knowledge and apply complex skills in rapidly changing environment. Concept mapping care plan was developed by researcher and validated by ten expert panels using three rounds of Delphi technique. It was used to evaluate academic performance of nursing students at clinical practice. Concept mapping care plan is a good assessment tool to nursing educators to prepare nursing students for better critical thinking and expected to function effectively after graduation. The goal of concept mapping care plan as a teaching strategy during the clinical practices, help the students to integrate the knowledge from theory and implementing this knowledge in the clinical setting. Researcher believes that concept mapping care plan can be as a replacement of nursing process that have been practiced before in the clinical setting. In addition, through concept mapping care plan provides an opportunity for students to broaden their knowledge and become more creative.