| Sumario: | The purpose of this project was to develop, implement, and evaluate a program for the assessment of clinical competency of registered nurses. Developmental problem-solving methodology and Program Management Methodologies were used.The research questions addressed by the project were: (1) What would be an appropriate plan which would assess the clinical competency of registered nurses? (2) Can this plan meet the needs of the Medical Center for assessing the clinical competency of registered nurses? (3) What are the criteria which can be used to evaluate a registered nurse competency program? (4) Did the plan developed meet these criteria? Three phases were used to carry out this project. Phase one included a literature review, selection of the formative and summative committees, identification of the criteria necessary for a successful competency assessment program, the planning for the project, the summative committee's review of the plans including any revisions, and survey development. The program developed included core competencies as well as specific competencies for each of the specialty nursing units.Phase two included the implementation of the program. The clinical competency assessment program was implemented in July and August, 1997. Phase three included the development of evaluation criteria for the program, the development of an evaluation plan which met the approval of the summative committee, the implementation of the evaluation plan, and the establishment of recommendations for future improvement of the program.This project influenced education as well as the quality of clinical nursing care by providing opportunities to assess the skill level of registered nurses, revealing deficiencies in the educational programs, allowing the integration of quality improvement findings with staff education, bringing the Medical Center into compliance with JCAHO regulations, and providing a model for the Medical Center for further research in order to expand the program to other employee groups.
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