Continued Competence Reading Library

The Post-Event White Paper is now available. Download it here.

Draft - Position Statement on Competence and Competency
American Nurses Association
Download the Statement
CCI's Response
"The purpose of this position paper is to define competence and competency within the context of current and projected professional directions. This position statement also identifies principles addressing competence in the nursing profession. Initiatives such as the development of the scope and standards of nursing practice, creation of educational curricula, formulation of a research agenda, and revision of the model nurse practice act and other regulatory requirements demand that ANA take a position on this important nursing issue."

Best Practices in Competence Assessment of Health Professionals
Deborah Vandewater, RN, MN, GNC[c]
http://www.crnns.ca/documents/competenceassessmentpaper2004.pdf
"There are several competence frameworks that could be amenable to the development of a nursing framework, thereby providing a common definition and precise language for the users of a competence framework. Additionally, while there are many tools developed by a variety of health professions to measure clinical competence, there is simply no one standardized tool that meets the rigours of validity, consistency and cost-effectiveness. However, a "triangulation" approach might be advantageous. In this approach, a mix or variety of competence assessment tools and strategies would be employed such as paper-based examinations, standardized clinical assessments, and supervisor evaluations."

Update to Best Practices in Competence Assessment of Health Professionals Policy Paper
Deborah Vandewater, RN, MN, GNC[c]
PDF
"Development and implementation of competency assessment and continuing competency assessment processes have continued to develop and expand. This paper will serve as a follow-up and supplement to the original paper focusing upon the following aspects:
1. Continuing competence program work by other Canadian provincial and territorial nursing and other health regulators
2. Continuing competence work internationally;
3. Verification methods for completion of continuing competency programs; and
4. Self-reflective tools used for continuing competency programs."

ACGME Outcome Project – Toolbox of Assessment Methods
American Board of Medical Specialties
http://www.acgme.org/Outcome/assess/Toolbox.pdf, http://www.acgme.org/Outcome/assess/ToolTable.pdf
"Included in this packet are descriptions of assessment methods that can be used for evaluating residents. In addition to a brief description of each method, there is information pertaining to its use, psychometric qualities, and feasibility/practicality... The descriptions were developed to assist medical educators with the selection and development of evaluation techniques. They represent a first step in the construction of a more complete toolbox of assessment techniques."

Comment and discuss these readings

Suggested Reading

General Competencies and Accreditation in Graduate Medical Education
Paul Batalden, David Leach, Susan Swing, Hubert Dreyfus and Stuart Dreyfus
http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/21/5/103.pdf
"Many have recommended changing the professional development of physicians. Concluding that further educational process specification was inadequate, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) decided to specify sixg eneral competencies of graduate medical education (GME): patient care; medical knowledge; practice-based learning and improvement; professionalism; interpersonal skills and communication; and systems-based practice."

Continuing competence in selected health care professions
Burden Lundgren
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4040/is_200201/ai_n9056119/print
"Health services professionals are confronting the challenge of maintaining and improving competence over the course of lengthy careers in diverse practice specialties. This article reviews the efforts of a selection of health care professions to ensure lifetime competence and reviews some of the challenges encountered in these efforts. Although each profession has its own issues, significant generic questions are common to all."

Strategic Leadership Forum Overview
Liz Wiseman – Mindshare Learning Systems
Strategic Forum Overview
"A Strategic Leadership Forum brings together a group of senior leaders from across an organization to address a critical opportunity or challenge for their business. In this session, the group of leaders tackles a high-stakes business opportunity identified by the forum sponsor. The forum is designed not only to create an actionable business plan, but also to build mindshare for the initiative and develop the leadership and collaboration skills needed for its successful implementation."

Participatory Action Research
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_action_research
"Participatory action research is a recognized form of experimental research that focuses on the effects of the researcher's direct actions of practice within a participatory community with the goal of improving the performance quality of the community or an area of concern."

The Framework, Concepts and Methods of the Competency Outcomes and Performance Assessment (COPA) Model
Carrie B. Lenburg, EdD, RN, FAAN
http://nursingworld.org/mods/archive/mod110/copafull.htm
"A significant category of issues and problems related to promoting competence pertains to the limitations or absence of a cohesive conceptual framework that supports learning and assessment methods focused on practice competencies...The purpose of this article is to describe the importance of such a framework and the integration of essential concepts in developing and implementing competency outcomes, interactive learning strategies, and psychometrically-sound performance assessment methods."

Implementing Continuing Competency Requirements for Health Care Practitioners
David Swankin, Rebecca Arnold LeBuhn, Richard Morrison
http://www.cacenter.org/Implementing%20Continuing%20Competency%20Requirements%20for%20Health%20Care%20Practitioners%20-%202006.pdf
"Authoritative public policy experts have joined earlier critiques of health professional licensure in advocating that state boards institute programs for assuring the current competence of all health care professions. In this study, three experts affiliated with the Citizen Advocacy Center (CAC) present their recommendations for implementing state-based requirements for continuing competency assessment and assurance as a prerequisite for licensure renewal. These recommendations stem from several key assumptions: problems exist with both patient safety and health care quality; practitioner competence is as important as system safety; regulators and certifiers do not currently assure the continuing competence of health care professionals; and state licensure boards are the logical entity to be charged with assuring continuing professional competence."

Meeting the Ongoing Challenge of Continued Competence
NCSBN
https://www.ncsbn.org/Continued_Comp_Paper_TestingServices.pdf
"Nursing is a profession that requires the application of substantial knowledge, skills and abilities. The unsafe or unethical practice of nursing could cause harm to the public unless there is a high level of accountability. (Sheets, 1999) Thus, it is the responsibility of boards of nursing to hold nurses professionally accountable. The regulation of nursing is all about public protection and patient safety. As the pace of technological and scientific development accelerates, one of the greatest challenges to all health care practitioners is the attainment, maintenance and advancement of professional competence."