Introduction
Continued advancements in medical treatments, combined with the increased complexities of today’s patients make healthcare a challenging, yet a rewarding environment in which to work (Franklin, 2015; Tzeng, 2004). To navigate through these complexities, while ensuring the delivery of high quality patient care, nurses are encouraged to increase their skills and knowledge base (Franklin, 2015). Continued competency in nursing is a topic of interest to regulatory bodies, health care administrators, educators, and nurses (Wilkinson, 2013). Despite the importance of this topic, there is a lack of consensus establishing the measurement and the maintenance of continued nursing competency. Standardizing nursing competency is especially …show more content…
Competence is described as the ability to perform a skill or task (Wilkinson, 2013). Competency, on the other hand, is the knowledge to apply the skill (Franklin, 2015; Wilkinson, 2013). The role of competency in nursing is growing more urgent as the complexity of the patient increases (Tzeng, 2004). As healthcare creates new and innovative ways to treat patients, the role scope of the nurse is expanding to meet the needs of the patients (Whelan, …show more content…
It is important for nurses to independently seek opportunities for professional growth and development. Applying newly acquired skills in daily practice will strengthen competency. Nurses need to feel empowered to manage their professional practice portfolio (Wilkinson, 2013). Upon extensive research, I was unable to identify a theoretical framework within the literature, that was consistently used in the development of competency tools. Vroom’s (1964) Expectant Value Theory can be used to propose that the maintenance of competency is intrinsically derived from one’s personal and professional responsibility to themselves as well as the clients (Swansburg & Swanburg, 2002). This understanding of motivation may be considered when developing evaluation tools for nurses. Nurses should understand that professional development is a continuous and integral part of being a professional. Although continuation of competency remains a challenge in nursing, having a standardized model of care will support the development, implementation, and evaluation of nursing competency models, thus improving patient
Continued advancements in medical treatments, combined with the increased complexities of today’s patients make healthcare a challenging, yet a rewarding environment in which to work (Franklin, 2015; Tzeng, 2004). To navigate through these complexities, while ensuring the delivery of high quality patient care, nurses are encouraged to increase their skills and knowledge base (Franklin, 2015). Continued competency in nursing is a topic of interest to regulatory bodies, health care administrators, educators, and nurses (Wilkinson, 2013). Despite the importance of this topic, there is a lack of consensus establishing the measurement and the maintenance of continued nursing competency. Standardizing nursing competency is especially …show more content…
Competence is described as the ability to perform a skill or task (Wilkinson, 2013). Competency, on the other hand, is the knowledge to apply the skill (Franklin, 2015; Wilkinson, 2013). The role of competency in nursing is growing more urgent as the complexity of the patient increases (Tzeng, 2004). As healthcare creates new and innovative ways to treat patients, the role scope of the nurse is expanding to meet the needs of the patients (Whelan, …show more content…
It is important for nurses to independently seek opportunities for professional growth and development. Applying newly acquired skills in daily practice will strengthen competency. Nurses need to feel empowered to manage their professional practice portfolio (Wilkinson, 2013). Upon extensive research, I was unable to identify a theoretical framework within the literature, that was consistently used in the development of competency tools. Vroom’s (1964) Expectant Value Theory can be used to propose that the maintenance of competency is intrinsically derived from one’s personal and professional responsibility to themselves as well as the clients (Swansburg & Swanburg, 2002). This understanding of motivation may be considered when developing evaluation tools for nurses. Nurses should understand that professional development is a continuous and integral part of being a professional. Although continuation of competency remains a challenge in nursing, having a standardized model of care will support the development, implementation, and evaluation of nursing competency models, thus improving patient