Educational Interventions to Improve Graduating Nursing Students' Practice Readiness

Abstract

Background: For practice readiness, graduates need minimal competence in many areas. The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) identified 10 domains of competence. Purpose: The aim was to determine whether there is evidence of the objective assessment of learning in the senior year that aligns with the new AACN domains. Methods: A systematic literature review included English language, final year, baccalaureate program, and outcomes objectively measured. Master's and midwifery programs were excluded. Database searches by a reference librarian (March 24, 2020) in Scopus, CINAHL, Ovid MEDLINE, ERIC, and Web of Science resulted in 40 peer-reviewed articles. Samples ranged from 9 to 527. Three authors examined results ensuring rigor, decreasing bias, and categorizing articles into the AACN's 10 domains. MERSQI scoring was applied. Results: Six of the 10 domains were addressed in the literature. Many studies used investigator-developed tools with no validity or reliability. Conclusions: An emphasis on practice readiness means educators must be able to teach and measure critical behaviors.

Clinical Evaluation of Competence in Nursing Education: What Do We Know?

“…Practicing safely is critical to competence with medical errors cited as the third leading cause of death in the United States, higher than in other developed countries (Anderson & Abrahamson, 2017). Safety has been identified as a paramount concept in clinical evaluation of nursing students (Shatto et al, 2022) and as a major reason for disciplinary action against nurses by boards of nursing (Papinaho et al, 2019).…”