Assessing Competency for Community-Focused Nursing Practice

Abstract

What and how we teach, how we learn, and how we practice nursing are fundamentally changing. Perspectives on Assessment invites dialogue on assessment's central role in the paradigm shifts currently occurring in nursing education and nursing practice. Programs of assessment in educational and practice institutions offer the opportunity for continuous feedback on the quality and effectiveness of our efforts to prepare nurses who are competent to practice in a healthcare environment that is continuously changing and increasingly community based. The assessment process itself offers the opportunity for us to engage in an ongoing conversation about our progress with these two paradigm changes.

Population Health

“…Competency-based assessments have been discussed in community nursing for decades 13. Competencies are progressively developed over time through the observational feedback of faculty per specific improvement indicators.…”

“…Competency-based assessments have been discussed in community nursing for decades. 13 Competencies are progressively developed over time through the observational feedback of faculty per specific improvement indicators. The didactic or theory knowledge is essential but does not alone validate a competency, particularly in population health.…”

Implementation and evaluation of interactive online instruction in the dietetic internship

“…Thus training must instill higher level thinking and use of non-traditional settings such as community-based health care. Dietetic graduates must be equipped with knowledge and problem-solving skills that are high quality and essential to the changing environment (Forker, 1996). Tanner (1990) speculates that much of clinical training in nursing, based upon the behaviorist theory, limits the attainment of quality of clinical education.…”