Programme evaluation in nursing education: the state of the art

Abstract

Programme evaluation is a complex but integral component of a nursing education programme. It is an ongoing process of collecting and describing data which provides the basis for decision making. Specifically, evaluative data can be used to prepare for accreditation visits; account for budgetary expenditures; answer requests for information; develop faculty and staff; and examine the planned and actual effects of the programme within the community and make changes accordingly. There are several programme evaluation models available to guide the evaluation process, but no single model is best and nurse educators must consider a variety of variables. Ideally, the selection of a model should be based on the purpose of the evaluation, programme needs, material and spatial resources, and personnel time, as well as the needs and desires of key interest groups. Several considerations are also required before the model is implemented. These include determining specific priorities for evaluation since all aspects of a programme (conceptual framework, philosophy, programme goals, student characteristics, graduates' performance, faculty and administrative expertise, as well as adequacy of resources) usually cannot be evaluated simultaneously; how the evaluation should proceed; time frames for specific evaluation projects; and personnel responsible for the evaluative activities.

Focus Groups: Powerful Adjuncts for Program Evaluation

“…In a seminal article, Watson and Herbener (1990) stated that for evaluation to be comprehensive, data collection should be ongoing with both formative and summative input.…”

“…A summative or outcome evaluation emphasizes an end-of-program or summary progress (Watson & Herbener, 1990). It is generally performed to determine whether a program is effective in meeting predetennined outcomes.…”

Curriculum evaluation in nursing education: a review of the literature

“…The systematic model of curriculum evaluation, with its emphasis on whether or not a programme achieves its targets, continues to be influential in the USA ( Clark et al 1983, Blank 1985, Jones et al 1987, Watson & Herbener 1990). Whether objectives have been achieved is usually a subsidiary issue in the evaluation of European nursing curricula.…”

Developing a specialist children’s nursing workforce in sub-Saharan Africa: a descriptive programme evaluation.

“…Despite calls for investment in health worker training to be supported by instructive monitoring and evaluation, 16,17 there remain few published evaluations of African-based nurse education programmes. Qualitative evaluations predominate 18,19,20,21 .…”

“…Qualitative evaluations predominate 18,19,20,21 . While the WHO and others advise that education programme evaluation should include longer-term follow up and consider not only graduate output, but also the situation of graduates post-training, 16,17 published evaluations commonly focus on the activity of a single institution, a short period of programme activity, and/or the experiences of a single student year group. With rare exceptions, 22 few published evaluations present data analysing student throughput or demographics in-depth.…”