Strategy Submission

Innovative teaching strategies combined with ensuring safe nursing practice is a challenge for faculty across baccalaureate programs. Despite integrating innovative teaching strategies in the classroom, educators continue to struggle with evaluating students’ ability to provide safe, competent patient-centered care in the clinical setting. Gaps in evaluation of clinical practice, the BSN Essentials, and the baccalaureate program’s newly revised conceptual model provided an impetus for rigorous revision of current clinical evaluation tools.

Members of the baccalaureate research and evaluation committee developed a set of Clinical Performance Evaluation Tools incorporating the knowledge, skills, and attitudes for each of the Quality and Safety Education in Nursing (QSEN) competencies. Eight course/level specific tools were developed demonstrating progression throughout the program. Remediation strategies for each course were addressed with a separate tool, the Clinical Performance Remediation (CPR) Tool. Walsh (2010) and University of Portland (2011) shared clinical evaluation information and contributed to the development of the tools. Input from faculty representing all levels within the program was also welcomed and considered. In addition to incorporating the QSEN competencies, the faculty felt strongly about including a professionalism section within the tools. This presentation describes the process and outcome for creating an evaluation tool that blended an effective combination of QSEN’s core competencies, the BSN Essentials, and the baccalaureate program’s conceptual model.

Spring of 2012, each clinical nursing course across all levels will pilot implementation of the individualized course/level specific evaluation tools. The pilot study will provide student and faculty feedback and serve to improve the evaluation tools prior to creating the finalized versions, which will be implemented in the fall of 2012. Results of the pilot study and all evaluation tools will be presented and shared during this presentation. Nursing programs can enhance evaluation of students’ clinical performance by incorporating the newly developed clinical performance evaluation tools. The tools will then be made available on the QSEN web site for use by other nursing faculty interested in incorporating the QSEN competencies into their clinical evaluation process.