A TOOL IN NURSING SERVICE

Abstract

ual's performance in a situation, for example, is the measure of the extent to which the performance achieves certain desired goals. How can evaluations best be used for the benefit of individual nurses, for the benefit of nursing service, and thus, indirectly, for the benefit of the users of nursing service. Schools of nursing have for some time accepted responsibility for evaluating the performance of their students. Grades given in class work are actually evaluations. They are most often based on written tests, oral tests (recitations), and projects of various kinds. The grades earned by the students in these tests and projects are taken to be the measure of the students' achievement in mastering the subject matter of the class. In evaluating the achievement of the student in actual work situations, the usual method is to make and record observations of the student's activities and behavior at work. A summary of these notations indicates how close the observed performance approaches the desired goals. Suppose, for example, we believe that good nursing performance requires that the nurse cooperate willingly and effectively with others. Then the evaluator looks