Competency-Based Nursing Education - Springer Publishing

10 Competency-Based Nursing Education
passed. For internationally educated nurses, the first-time pass
rate was 45.6%, and for repeated attempts was 24.5%. The overall
pass rate was 72.4% (National Council of State Boards of Nursing,
2008).
2. In the United States, there are no uniform processes among the
states to assess the continued competence of registered nurses.
Wendt and Marks (2007) completed the first comprehensive
study on a national level to determine if there is a core set of
competencies that can be used to assess nurses in all practice
settings and with a wide range of experience.
3. The Performance-Based Development System (PBDS) has been
used in more than 350 health care agencies in 46 states to
assess nurses’ critical thinking and interpersonal skills abilities.
Findings indicate that 65% to 76% of inexperienced RNs do not
meet expectations for entry-level clinical judgment ability (del
Bruno, 2005).
4. The National Academies stated that there are no links among
accreditation, certification, and license requirements and identified
five core competencies that all health professionals should
have for the 21st century (Griener & Knebel, 2003).
5. The Pew Commission (1998) proposed 25 competencies for
health care professionals.
Although there is common ground about what is needed to better
prepare graduates for work, as well as assure their continuing competence,
there are differing views about the approaches, benefits, and
value of CBE systems. Table 1.2 summarizes several issues and concerns
related to competency of new graduates from health-related programs.
Approaches to Competency-Based Education
Although there are different perspectives on the definition of CBE,
diverse groups see the need to incorporate common elements:
1. Consumers, regulatory, educational, and practice groups establish
partnerships.
2. Collaboration and innovation in education and practice settings
support the development and maintenance of competent workforce
(Coonan, 2008).