Tag: clinical judgment

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”

Congratulations to Nurse Educators–and Next Steps for 2024 Success

Celebrating nurse educators on the outstanding results of NCLEX pass rates and success in nursing education.
by Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

NGN NCLEX Success! Initial Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) scores for April-June and July-September 2023 have been published and the results are positive when compared to the 2022 and 2023 scores BEFORE the NGN exam was introduced across all RN and PN test takers. Continue reading “Congratulations to Nurse Educators–and Next Steps for 2024 Success”

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”

Writing Next Generation NCLEX-Style Case Study Questions

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Recently, our blog featured tips for developing Next Generation NCLEX (NGN)-style questions, particularly the revision of test questions faculty already include on their examinations. Revising these questions provides a strategy to adapt current test items to reflect the NGN process, since these knowledge questions represent many questions on the NGN exam.

Now let’s turn our attention to writing NGN Case Study questions. Continue reading “Writing Next Generation NCLEX-Style Case Study Questions”

Developing Clinical Judgment in an Online Environment

By Susan Sportsman, PhD, RN, ANEF, FAAN

Perhaps the most critical challenge we face is to ensure that our graduates are competent when making clinical judgements appropriate for novice nurses. Developing this competence has always been important—after all, effective clinical judgment is what keeps the clients we serve safe. However, the implementation of the Next Generation NCLEX (NGN) by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN) in 2023 has brought this need into prominence. At the same time, the pandemic has created the need to deliver more instruction for nursing students in an online format. Let’s look at four principles to help us achieve the outcomes of developing novice nurses who make effective clinical judgment the core of their nursing practice, all of which can be implemented in an online setting. Continue reading “Developing Clinical Judgment in an Online Environment”