The Shift Toward Competency-Based Education
Introduction
The challenge of preparing novice nurses to deliver safe, effective care is not new. New graduates, faculty and practice partners alike have all recognized that safety should be the hallmark of a nurse entering the profession- regardless of their practice setting. However, in today’s complex health care environment, accurately assessing whether a novice nurse is truly prepared is no simple task. With increasing patient acuity, expanding scopes of practice, and evolving healthcare roles, nursing education must continuously adapt to ensure graduates have the necessary capabilities for real-world practice. For the last 25 years, a variety of efforts have been made by the profession to quantify specific competencies essential for nurses. Table A gives examples of efforts to evaluate the behaviors of a competent nurse in various roles and settings.
Table A: Selected Efforts to Support Integration of Nursing Competency into Practice
Current literature suggests the Nurse Competency Scale (both the original and shortened version) is the most commonly used self-assessment instrument to measure the generic competence of registered nurses. The scale, based on Benner’s from Novice to Expert model, is used to evaluate the nurse’s ability to integrate knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values in specific context. The nursing behaviors identified in the scale includes the nurse’s helping role, teaching-coaching, diagnostic functions, managing situations, therapeutic interventions, ensuring quality, and worker role. (Meretoja, et. al, 2004).
The Shift Toward Competency Based Nursing Education
In response to the 2021 of American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education, many baccalaureate and graduate nursing programs seeking accreditation by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) today are in the process of integrating Competency Based Education into their curriculum. AACN recognizes that complete integration of these competencies into baccalaureate and graduate education will take time. As a result, Continue reading “Competency-Based Education (CBE)”