title: Development of Australian clinical practice outcome standards for graduates of critical care nurse education.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To develop critical care nurse education practice standards.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  Critical care specialist education for registered nurses in Australia is provided at graduate level. Considerable variation exists across courses with no framework to guide practice outcomes or evidence supporting the level of qualification.
  
  
  METHODS
  An eDelphi technique involved the iterative process of a national expert panel responding to three survey rounds.
  
  
  METHODS
  For the first round, 84 statements, organised within six domains, were developed from earlier phases of the study that included a literature review, analysis of critical care courses and input from health consumers. The panel, which represented the perspectives of four stakeholder groups, responded to two rating scales: level of importance and level of practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 105 experts who agreed to participate, 92 (88%) completed survey round I; 85 (92%) round II; and 73 (86%) round III. Of the 98 statements, 75 were rated as having a high level of importance - median 7 (IQR 6-7); 14 were rated as having a moderate level of importance - median 6 (IQR 5-7); and nine were rated as having a low level of importance - median 4 (IQR 4-6)-6 (IQR 4-6). The majority of the panel rated graduate level of practice as 'demonstrates independently' or 'teaches or supervises others' for 80 statements. For 18 statements, there was no category selected by 50% or more of the panel. The process resulted in the development of 98 practice standards, categorised into three levels, indicating a practice outcome level by the practitioner who can independently provide nursing care for a variety of critically ill patients in most contexts, using a patient- and family-focused approach.
  The graduate practice outcomes provide a critical care qualification definition for nursing workforce standards and can be used by course providers to achieve consistent practice outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Science, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Curtin University, Perth, WA, Australia; Child & Adolescent Health Services, Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, WA, Australia.
authors.forename: Fenella J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: Gavin D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Leslie
authors.forename: Carol
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Grech
authors.forename: Duncan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boldy
authors.forename: Jos M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Latour
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001315:Australia; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D064648:Critical Care Nursing / Q000193:education*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009740:Nursing Staff / Q000592:standards*; D057184:Practice Patterns, Nurses' / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Delphi study; assessment; graduate-level education; intensive care; nursing; nursing education research; postregistration qualifications