Assessment of nursing competencies is one of the most critical aspects that every health organization should conduct to evaluate the knowledge, skills, traits, and abilities of nurses. Measuring competency among health workers is essential in establishing their ability and preparedness to offer quality services to all patients ( Robert & Petersen, 2013) . My health care organization has several frameworks that can be used to assess nursing competency. The main methods that the organization uses to measure competency include Performance Based Development System, competency fairs, and online programs. Notably, all the methods are have to involve departmental managers who oversee the processes to ensure that there is proper development and maintenance of skills among the nurses.
Performance Based Development System (PBDS) is regarded as a highly effective method that the health organization can use to assess an individual nurse’s competency skills. Remarkably, it consists of various video tapes consisting of different scenarios where patients have situations pertaining to specific illness processes. This method of assessing competency allows the nurse to review the tape then document all the interventions they would carry out on the patient ( Robert & Petersen, 2013). The assessment team later reviews the documentation and gives scores. Based on the results, a personalized orientation plan is then designed for the nurse. PBDS is among the most efficient methods since it also checks on critical thinking, interpersonal, and technical skills.
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My health care organization also assesses nursing competency through various competency fairs that are structured to ensure nurses maintain and improve their skills. Usually, most competency fairs are meant to measure competency by providing nurses with challenging situations that they need to solve and present findings on (Rubenfeld, & Scheffer, 2015). Recommendations are then made based on the competency outcome of different nurses. Further, competency fairs are considered efficient by the organization since they are can be used to assess several nurses at the same time. Based on the five core competencies that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) endorses for all clinicians in any healthcare organization, this method will ensure they are all capture. The five competencies include provision of patient-centered care, use of evidence-based practice, working with interdisciplinary teams, use of informatics, and application of quality improvement (Rubenfeld, & Scheffer, 2015).
The health organization also uses a formal tool such as online programs designed to measure competency among nurses. One of the formal tools that relies on online programs include computerized clinical simulation testing (CST) that allows the organization to create competency tests that are closely approximate to real working conditions. Moreover, the program is highly rated as it ensures consistency, objectivity, and creates comparable standards for health workers within the organization ( Robert & Petersen, 2013) . We can also observe competency through seeking multiple cases from one provider.
My suggestions for improving quality and consistency of care through assessing nursing competency in my work environment recommend that health care providers should be assessed often. Further, critical thinking ability of most health care specialists should be assessed with utmost diligence since it is an aspect that directly affects safety of the patients. The most notable critical thinking framework abbreviated as TACTICS comprise of Tracking, Assessing, and Cultivating Thinking to Improve Competency-based Strategies (Rubenfeld, & Scheffer, 2015). The application of critical thinking TACTICS will help eliminate linear thinking that has not been able to provide solutions to the current health care system that appears chaotic and demanding. Since improvement of quality and consistency in delivering desirable health services are the main goals of most healthcare organizations, the idea of nursing competencies will greatly help in developing and maintaining appropriate knowledge and skills among health workers. Competency assessments are also crucial in promoting continuous learning among health care professionals.
References
Robert, R. R., & Petersen, S. (2013). Critical thinking at the bedside: Providing safe passage to patients. Medsurg Nursing , 22 (2), 85.
Rubenfeld, G., & Scheffer, B. (2015). Critical thinking tactics for nurses: Achieving the IOM competencies . Jones & Bartlett Learning.
