title: Evaluating nurse competency: evidence of validity for a skills recredentialing program.
abstract: A multitrait, multimethod approach was used to evaluate the validity of a hospital-based nurse competency assessment program as a mechanism for assuring compliance with the three standards for competence established by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, Inc. For selected competencies, both knowledge and skill performance were evaluated under simulated conditions and under routine patient care conditions. Under simulated conditions, pass rates on first attempts among the 368 participating nurses were high as expected (82 per cent to 94 per cent on knowledge and 75 per cent to 99 per cent on performance). Offering immediate educational feedback followed by second attempts yielded a 97 per cent overall pass rate. Competencies assessed under both simulated and patient care conditions (35 sets of observations) revealed no differences in assessed competence. The equivalence of assessments made under simulated and patient care conditions supports the validity of competency assessment programs currently in use in many large health care settings.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research and Data Management, Parkland Health & Hospital System, 5201 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75235-7750, USA. tljone@parknet.pmh.org
authors.forename: Terry
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Carolyn L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Cason
authors.forename: Mary E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Mancini
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence; D003406:Credentialing / Q000592:standards*; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008008:Licensure, Nursing; D009729:Nursing / Q000592:standards*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D013781:Texas; D014481:United States