Cyra Kussman and Jeanmarie Koonts presented their research on the evaluation of skill competence and demonstration in nursing students at the 2024 National Nurse Educator Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Lecturer Cyra Kussman and Assistant Professor Jeanmarie Koonts in the Department of Nursing recently presented a research poster titled “Heads-Up: Health Education and Demonstration You Practice” at the 2024 National Nurse Educator Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
This work is part of their program of research exploring how nursing students build and maintain skill competence in nursing education. The goal of this current study was to evaluate ongoing skill competence and the means of maintaining it, after students had a summer break in their clinical learning.
In this study, Kussman and Koonts had students track their clinical experiences related to six core clinical skills (known as caring interventions) that each student had previously demonstrated competency doing. Following this clinical experience and a summer break, Kussman and Koonts re-evaluated students for ongoing caring intervention competency. Their research showed that not all students had an opportunity for continued skill development in the clinical setting and that competency lagged after a summer clinical break. Major themes important to nurse competency and didactic education related to ongoing assessment of competency, the role of independent practice and demonstration, the role of the skills lab, skills bootcamps and more emerged. Nursing education programs can use this knowledge to design curricula that supports ongoing assessment, evaluation, and development of caring interventions.
The National Nurse Education Summit is a national nurse educators conference where nursing professionals from across the country gather to focus on the critical issues facing healthcare and nursing education today. This Assessment Technologies Institute (ATI) organized event highlights research and educational podium and poster presentations which address topics important for the advancement of nursing practice and education. In addition, the conference highlights ATI’s varied platforms and programs (didactic, skill, testing, NCLEX preparation, AI, nursing school readiness, etc) available to help support and educate the next generation of nursing leaders.
Special thanks to CATL for their travel grant which supported faculty’s attendance at this conference.