Zaid Al Zu’bi
Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Hospital, Saudi Arabia
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Nurs Care
Problem: It was identified that competency assessment required re-structuring to enhance a standardise approach to
competency assessment using the knowledge, skill and attitude (KSA) approach.
Background and aim: A new tool of competency assessment was implemented in a small hospital and this project was led by
Nursing Services Department. It was the vision of Nursing Servicesto achieves national distinction as a magnet facility where
nursing embraces an evidenced-based professional practice model that places patient and the families as the focus of quality
care within the domains of clinical practice, administration, education, research, innovation and technology. The project
was led by Nursing Education Department; Consisting of Nurse Educators & Clinical Resource Nurses. The competency
assessment project was designed to reflect CBAHI & JCI standards, standardize the assessment approach by the assessor, as
well as minimise the time taken for each assessment to be performed.
Methods: Competency assessment was divided into three particulars that were given individual attention to create templates
that would support each area of assessment. A taskforce was created to support this project due to the scale of changes that
were required to be made. The task force consisted of various disciplines within Nursing as well as staff from specialities of
Adult, Paediatric, Critical and L&D. The initial phase of the project focused on assessment of nursing skills followed by clinical
behaviour and then knowledge assessment. Generic Nursing practices, that required a standardise approach by the hospital,
were identified and then by using Nursing Key Skills as a reference a template of clinical check list was created for each Nursing
Practise. New templates were created for each practice such as airway management, physical assessment and IV Cannulation.
In order to ensure the aim of the competency project would be met a questionnaire was created for feedback purposes. The
questionnaire would be completed by the members of the education team.
Results: In total (13) members of the educational team completed the survey. 100% of the feedback agreed that time consumed
for competency assessment become less than 45 minutes. 90% agreed they have more time to conduct other education activity
in their clinical area. 70%-80% observed change in the staff skill and knowledge and about 80% noticed Improvement in
patient care and safety too. Overall it was noted with the new competency framework the nursing staff across the hospital were
observed to be more confident when performing competency at any given time.
Conclusion: The findings of this study highlighted hat the new competency framework model supported the clinical resource
nurses to:
• Standardise generic nursing skills,
• Standardise competency performance by CRN’s and by staff
• Reduced the time taken for competency assessment
• Improved Nursing staff confidence during competency assessment
• Improved Nursing staff confidence during clinical practice
Zaid Al Zu’bi working as an Associate Executive Director in Prince Mohammad Bin Abdulaziz Hospital.
E-mail: [email protected]
Journal of Nursing & Care received 2717 citations as per Google Scholar report
