What Does Practice-Readiness Mean? Practice-readiness is difficult to define because it is complex, multifaceted, and varies depending on the individual person and situation. Two new graduates with the exact same education will show different levels of practice-readiness. Researchers have attempted to quantify practice-readiness by identifying the qualities needed. These include a person’s ability to problem solve, provide safe practice, communicate, prioritize, and use clinical judgment, to name a few. A curriculum that is built on these qualities can provide the foundation necessary to produce practice-ready nurses.
Responses from Strategies to Create Practice-Ready Nurses Webinar, Spring 2024
Building Practice-Ready Nurses For a nursing program to build practice-ready nurses, strategies must be used that include developing definitions for progression and establishing benchmark outcome achievements. Practice-readiness begins with the end in mind, so first consider what the student will look like upon graduation, then work backwards. Use these steps to form a pathway to success. 1. Re-visit your end-of-program student learning outcomes (EOP-SLO). Be sure they are consistent with the needs of today’s novice nurse. 2. Affirm that course outcomes are leveled to achieve the EOP-SLOs. This creates a framework for what needs to be accomplished to meet these goals. 3. Align all classroom assessment and clinical evaluations with the course outcomes. This identifies that you are measuring what you need to teach. 4. Determine clear, measurable definitions of assessments and evaluation. For example, “Provide patient-centered care to a group of pediatric patients” is not measurable. Here is a sample of clear, measurable, progressing definitions for students throughout the program.
Semester 1
Semester 2
Semester 3
Semester 4
Recognizes changes in condition, reports when appropriate; intervenes safely with guidance; and evaluates outcomes Rephrases into lay terms for patient/family when teaching medical information Identifies the relationship of lab data, medications, and pathophysiology as it relates to patient care Safely implements routine nursing actions and evaluates effect; lacks ability to delegate
Distinguishes between normal and abnormal assessment findings Explains procedures & performs teaching to the patient/family using textbook descriptions Distinguishes between abnormal and abnormal but anticipated findings Recognizes active patient problems requiring assistance when identifying priority actions.
Performs complete assessment with guidance/prompts
Organizes relative importance of multiple assessments over time
Assessment
Modifies teaching based on patient/family response, cultural and language variations and learning barriers. Analyzes trends in lab data and compares to patient response Safely implements appropriate nursing actions in a timely manner; consistently delegates
Seeks guidance to answer patient/family questions
Patient Teaching
Lab Data & Diagnostics
Reports abnormal lab data
Performs basic nursing actions with prompts
Nursing Actions
Draws conclusions based on available information for
Repeats basic information
Summarizes available
Prioritizes available information for
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