title: Building a successful risk-based competency assessment model.
abstract: The requirement to verify and ensure the competency of staff members to perform their assigned duties is here to stay. This article describes a model for decision making about competency assessment frequency. Implementation of the model should be accompanied by a systematic review of learning needs and performance improvement data. Education sessions designed to address identified learning needs or to support performance improvement activities should occur before or concurrent with competency assessment. The result is a cost-effective, efficient use of resources to accomplish the goal of ongoing assessment and improvement of staff competency. When staff member competency improves, the likelihood of a positive patient outcome increases. Our model provides a structured, defensible mechanism to link competency assessment with improvements in patient care quality.
authors.affiliation: Intraoperative Services, Crawford Long Hospital, Atlanta, USA.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Parsons
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Capka
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003660:Decision Support Systems, Management; D003661:Decision Support Techniques; D004650:Employee Performance Appraisal; D005845:Georgia; D006801:Humans; D007591:Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; D017146:Models, Organizational; D013527:Perioperative Nursing / Q000145:classification / Q000193:education / Q000592:standards*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012306:Risk; D012308:Risk Management / Q000379:methods*; D013523:Surgical Equipment