129 Tecnical, Interpersonal and Critical Thinking Competency Assessment: A Systemic Approach

Abstract

Competence is more than possessing the knowledge or psychomotor skills necessary to perform a specific task. For nurses, competence means the caregiver integrates knowledge, skills and personal attributes consistently in daily practice to meet established standards of performance. Goal: Presents our current Institution standards to assess nursing competencies needed to measure critical thinking and clinical decision-making abilities and necessary as a result of findings from quality-improvement data. To assess nursing competency a methodological plan had to be established. Competencies have two major components: first is a competency statement describing the general performance standard; second is a list of criteria describing the tasks required to ensure that the general performance standard is met. Before beginning four important aspects had to be considered: outcome, category, learning domain and audience. Expected outcomes were clearly defined based on pre-established goals with the aim of assessing acquisition of a new skill or of validating existing knowledge and skills. Competencies were selected for evaluating the skills and knowledge needed to execute complexes nursing interventions and intermediate or advanced in order to evaluate need for complex interventions. Identifying a particular learning domain to address competencies. Novice nurses needed a high percentage of psychomotor competencies, whereas competent nurses needed validation of higher level competencies. Competency assessment has been proved as a valid tool for building long-term continuous improvement of high quality nursing care.