Category: Curriculum

Creating Competency Statements

Creating Competency Statements for Your Nursing  Program: Models, Tips and Tools
Creating Competency Statements for Your Nursing Program
Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

At some point, nearly every nurse educator has written a reference letter describing a student as “competent”. Likewise, when discussing students who are struggling, we might say “She hasn’t yet reached the expected level of competence.”  While we usually know what we mean by “competent”, it’s not always clear to others. This lack of clarity, along with the complexity of the current health care system, is driving the shift toward Competency-Based Education (CBE) in nursing programs.

Although some nursing programs—like other health professions —have incorporated competency-based approaches for many years, it has become more common. One catalyst was the AACN’s 2021 publication: The Essentials: Core Competencies for Professional Nursing Education. (https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf). Other nursing/accreditation organizations are also encouraging the use of competencies to prepare and evaluate nursing students. For example, NLN has published a Competency -Based Education Toolkit to support nursing faculty in implementing this approach. (https://www.aacnnursing.org/Portals/0/PDFs/Publications/Essentials-2021.pdf).

Competency-Based Education (CBE)

As promised in our February 2025 Collaborative Momentum Consulting blog, we’re diving deeper into CBE- starting with a discussion of competency statements. Traditionally, nursing programs have used program goals, or student learning outcomes, to define the knowledge, skills and attitudes students should demonstrate by graduation. However, these outcomes are frequently too broad or abstract to support reliable measurement. In addition, course objectives are often not aligned with program goals, making it difficult to accurately assess learners’ competency.

Clear, measurable exit competency statements help faculty develop desired competencies which articulate behaviors necessary for successful practice post-graduation. Once these exit competencies are established, more specific competence statements (often referred to as sub-competencies) can suggest assessment measures to evaluate learners’ abilities as they move through the course of study. This backward design of the curriculum provides a roadmap to guide learners and faculty in assessing the knowledge and behaviors necessary for practice.

How to Develop Effective Competency Statements in Nursing Education

Creating effective competency statements requires three essential actions: Continue reading “Creating Competency Statements”

Effective Remediation for Nursing Students

Effective remediation strategies for nursing students

                                  by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Building Upon Comprehensive Remediation Programs: Focusing on Individual Student Success in Nursing Education

In May 2021 our Collaborative Momentum Consulting blog featured a discussion on remediation programs for nursing students, titled “Setting Students Up for Success” We addressed the pressing need to develop remediation programs tailored to meet the diverse needs of your entire student body. While we hope these strategies were helpful, we recognize there is also a need for individualized support and remediation for nursing students facing academic challenges. Often, educators find themselves assisting individual students who demonstrate trouble achieving success in faculty-made or standardized tests or other assignments.

This month we aim to equip educators with practical approaches to assist individual students in identifying areas of difficulty, understanding specific knowledge gaps and developing personalized improvement plans. Continue reading “Effective Remediation for Nursing Students”

The Nursing Shortage: What Can Nurse Educators Do?

developing nursing students with resilienceby Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

The Problem

Approximately 100,000 Registered Nurses and 34,000 Licensed Practical/Vocational Nurses have left the workforce in the last two years as a result of stress, burnout, and retirement. These findings from the 2022 National Nursing Workforce Survey are quite alarming. However, additional findings paint an even more disturbing picture. Another 610,388 nurses reported an “intent to leave” the workforce by 2027. An additional 188,962 RNs younger than forty reported similar intentions to leave nursing. Altogether, about one-fifth of RNs nationally are projected to leave the workforce by 2027 (Smiley, Allgeyer,2023).

Why are these nurses, particularly those under forty, planning to leave?  continue reading

Infusing Clinical Judgment Into All Corners of the Nursing Curriculum

 

clinical judgment
Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

April 2023 marks the first time that new nursing graduates complete the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) Examination. The results of the work of the National Council of State Board of Nursing (NCSBN) in developing the NGN and the responses of nurse educators who are preparing students for this innovative licensing approach will be documented in the test results over the next year. All nurse educators and regulators are hopeful that the NGN will more accurately differentiate among new graduates who are prepared to make clinical judgments required for today’s nursing practice and those who are not. In addition, Continue reading “Infusing Clinical Judgment Into All Corners of the Nursing Curriculum”