Clinically Competent Peers and Support for Education: Structures and Practices That Work

Assessing RN-to-RN peer review on clinical units

“…Over the past decade, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet framework has repeatedly found that nurses value working with other competent nurses. In multiple studies, the top‐ranked factor related to quality of nursing care is ‘working with other nurses who are clinically competent’ (McClure & Hinshaw 2002, Schmalenberg & Kramer 2008a,b, Schmalenberg et al. 2008).…”

The relationship between healthy work environments and retention of nurses in a hospital setting

“…Education, continued growth and development and professional advancement are agreed upon characteristics important to HWEs. Nurses believe that clinically competent peers and support for education are the most important elements for a healthy work environment (Schmalenberg et al. 2008).…”

“…It is imperative to have a comprehensive programme and supportive environment for new graduates. Schmalenberg et al. (2008) found that all of the best practice hospital environments had extensive new graduate and new hire preceptor programmes.…”

Recognizing the Primacy of Competency and Exposing the Existence of Incompetence

“…his issue of Critical Care Nurse is devoted to the theme of "Enhancing Clinical Competency," an important and pivotal element in providing optimal care for critically ill patients and-as one paper in this issue 1 so clearly describes-in affording an optimal work environment for critical care nurses. Verifying, ensuring, and developing the competency of health care staff represent concerns acknowledged for many years now by virtually all categories of critical care nurses, including administrators, managers, clinical nurse specialists, staff development and academic educators, preceptors, and other staff nurses.…”

“…1 attribute of a satisfying work environment where nurses are able to provide quality patient care is having clinically competent peers. 1 • When the 37 magnet program attributes were distilled into 8 considered essential to a healthy working environment, the attribute that nurses from 14 magnet facilities considered most important among these select few was having clinically competent peers in their work unit. 1 • As the Institute of Medicine attempts to translate its findings related to the prevalence of medical errors in the United States health care system 8 into reforms necessary in the educational preparation of health care professionals for the 21st century, integration of a set of 5 core competencies is required.…”