title: Clinical objectives: a method to evaluate clinical performance in critical care orientation.
abstract: Evaluation of clinical performance can often be difficult because of the subjectivity and lack of clinical objectives to guide the evaluation process. Although the use of clinical objectives is not a new concept, many orientation programs do not offer clinical objectives to assess the progress of the orientee's clinical learning. Effective evaluation of clinical performance has been a recurrent problem for nurse educators. This may be because of difficulty in clearly defining objective measurement criteria. This article details the use of clinical objectives in evaluation of clinical performance in nurses orienting to the critical care environment.
authors.affiliation: Saint Mary's Hospital, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA. mckane.cheryl@mayo.edu
authors.forename: Cheryl L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: McKane
mesh_terms: D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D003162:Competency-Based Education / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003422:Critical Care / Q000592:standards*; D003479:Curriculum; D004509:Education, Nursing, Continuing / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004650:Employee Performance Appraisal / Q000379:methods*; D005181:Faculty, Nursing / Q000458:organization & administration; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007318:Inservice Training / Q000458:organization & administration*; D020380:Needs Assessment; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015402:Nursing Education Research; D009741:Nursing Staff, Hospital / Q000193:education*; D009937:Organizational Objectives; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011231:Preceptorship / Q000458:organization & administration; D016730:Program Development; D015397:Program Evaluation