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Assess competencies with the right players

Staff Development Weekly: Insight on Evidence-Based Practice in Education, March 6, 2008

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Assessing "competencies," an often loosely defined and poorly understood concept, is critical to ensuring optimal patient care at all times. Regulatory agencies' primary concern is protecting the public and ensuring consistent safe practices are implemented, and nurse managers should similarly understand the implications of a lack of competency in their staff. Simply put, healthcare personnel must be able to perform their job safely and competently.

Peer review is one method of validating competency. It incorporates feedback from as many people who interact with a staff member as is feasible. For an RN, these people might include:

• Peers
• Licensed practical nurses (LPNs)
• Nursing assistants
• Representatives of other disciplines
• His or her manager

The use of different sources of information and different measures to evaluate competence increases validity.

Editor's note: The above excerpt is from the online course "Nursing CE Series: Assessing Competencies." For more information on this and other courses, visit www.hcprofessor.com.

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