Evaluation of Student Performance / Clinical Evaluation Policy

Introduction: The clinical evaluation tool consists of nine essential competencies with specific performance criteria encompassing cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains of learning and provides a comprehensive evaluation of a student’s clinical performance. It is required to be used in each pre-licensure clinical course.

Student development is seen as occurring along a continuum. Nursing students move from requiring extensive guidance and assistance to becoming self-directed. It is expected that students will progress along this continuum through each clinical experience and through the nursing program as a whole.

Instructions:

1. Clinical faculty will discuss the evaluation tool with students at the beginning of each clinical rotation and explain how it will be used.
2. At the end of the clinical assignment, the student will complete their portion of the evaluation and send it to the appropriate clinical faculty member. Student comments are encouraged for each of the nine categories.
3. The clinical faculty will then complete their portion of the evaluation considering the quality of the student’s performance and the amount of guidance required. Faculty will rate students on each of the nine competencies as either: HP high pass, P pass, LP low pass, and NP no pass. Faculty comments are required for each competency section in which a student is rated as anything other than P (Pass). An overall rating is assigned (either pass or fail) and summary comments along with recommendations for further development/improvement are added at the end of the evaluation.
4. Numbers of satisfactorily completed clinical hours must be included on the evaluation form.
5. A meeting will be held between the student and clinical faculty member to discuss the evaluation. At the conclusion of the meeting the document is signed and dated by both the clinical faculty and the student. The student will be provided with a copy by the clinical faculty.
6. A signed copy of the evaluation will be delivered to the School of Nursing office by the clinical faculty for filing in the student’s academic record.

Swanson’s Theory of Caring: Explanation of the Five Caring Processes

Maintaining Belief – Philosophical belief in persons, their capacity and potential for a meaningful future – in general and for each person specifically

Knowing – Understanding of the general clinical condition and its meaning for the person and his/her situation, specifically

Being With – Conveying the message of informed caring so that the person realizes the commitment, concern, and personal attentiveness of the care provider

Doing For – Therapeutic actions the person would do for him/herself, if possible

Enabling – Therapeutic actions that support the person’s self-care abilities

References

American Association of Colleges of Nursing. (2008). The essentials of baccalaureate education for professional nursing practice. Washington, DC: Author.

Cronenwett, L., Sherwood, G., Barnsteiner J., Disch, J., Johnson, J., Mitchell, P., Sullivan, D., & Warren, J. (2007). Quality and safety education for nurses. Nursing Outlook, 55,122-131.

Holaday, S., & Buckley, K. (2008). A standardized clinical evaluation tool-kit: Improving nursing education and practice. In M. H. Oermann & K. T. Heinrich (Eds.), Annual Review of Nursing Education, Vol. 6. New York: Springer.

Swanson, Kristen M. (1993). Nursing as Informed Caring for the Well-Being of Others. IMAGE: Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 25(4), 352–357.

Acknowledgement

Special thanks to the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill for providing the foundational elements for this evaluation form.