Mind the gap: Quantifying the performance gap between observed and required clinical competencies in undergraduate nursing students

摘要

Introduction: As nurse educators we sometimes hear nurses in practice areas suggest that graduates of today's nursing programs do not 'hit the ground running.' Assumptions aside that this, in fact, was ever the case, there certainly are many misconceptions about the 'readiness to practice' of senior nursing students and newly graduated nurses. Nursing faculty and nurse managers may find themselves at loggerheads over what entails being 'ready' to practice at a novice level. Ultimately, the 'readiness to practice' debate entails a veritable philosophical quagmire in terms of whose interests nursing education should serve and to what degree. In practical terms, however, the degree to which nursing students are prepared for nursing practice can be re-framed as a question of the degree to which stakeholder (faculty, students, patients, and employers) expectations are being met in regards to demonstrated competence. By quantifying the expectation gap between students' or graduates' observed level of competence and stakeholders' expectations of competence, all stakeholders will be better positioned to understand the nature of the gap and how that gap can be bridged through curricular enhancements and provisions in the clinical site and workplace. In this paper, we propose the use of gap analysis in nursing education to determine areas of curricular strength and weakness in the preparation of competent nurses. In this paper the terms 'school of nursing' and 'nursing programs' refer to undergraduate, pre-registration nursing programs preparing students for a baccalaureate degree as entry to practice.