Competencies for Staff Educators: Tools to Evaluate and Enhance Nursing Professional Development »

Barbara A. Brunt, MA, MN, RN, BC, is Director of Nursing Education and Staff Development for Summa Health System Hospitals in Akron, OH. Over the past 28 years, she has held a variety of staff development positions, including educator, coordinator, and director. Ms. Brunt has been active in numerous professional associations and has received awards for excellence in writing, nursing research, leadership, and staff development. She is a co-author of the Competency Management System: Toolkit for Validation and Assessment, published by HCPro. She is serving a term as President-Elect of the National Nursing Staff Development Organization (NNSDO) through July of 2007, when she will begin a two-year term as President of the organization.

Staff educators have resources to measure competencies for their clinical skills, but there have never been measures to demonstrate they are competent in their educational role . . . until now. Competencies for Staff Educators: Tools to Evaluate and Enhance Nursing Professional Development is the first book to give staff educators an objective, validated tool to measure proficiency.

With more than 70 evidence-based competencies included on the accompanying CD-ROM, staff educators will immediately incorporate cutting-edge concepts into practice. Competencies for Staff Educators gives you the opportunity to: write criterion-based job descriptions, provide orientation for new staff educators, create accurate performance reviews and assess proficiency, measure professional development and cultural competence, complete self-assessments and set performance goals, and much, much more! This is a valuable, must-have resource for nurse educators, nurse managers, chief nursing officers, and directors of nursing in any setting.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Mary Allen Carey, PhD(University of Oklahoma College of Nursing)
Description:This book provides tools to evaluate and enhance nursing professional development.
Purpose:The purpose is to give staff educators measurable tools to establish and demonstrate proficiency. According to the authors, this book adds to the body of evidence-based staff development literature and is appropriate for staff development or patient educators in any setting.
Audience:The book is written for any practitioner interested in nursing professional development.
Features:Three sections cover competency assessment and validation, applications of the competencies to practice, and future trends. Chapters provide an overview of the competency movement and then cover developing educator competencies, creating a framework for educator competencies, self-assessment, criterion-based position descriptions, performance appraisals and professional development plans, and professional portfolios.
Assessment:This is a good quality book. The figures and exhibits throughout enhance the presentation.

List of figures and exhibits     vii
About the authors     viii
Acknowledgments     ix
Introduction     xi
Competency assessment and validation     1
Overview of the competency movement     3
Key concepts     3
Why is competence important?     4
What is competence in nursing?     5
The role of nursing professional development educators     5
Competency-based education     6
Evidence-based practice     8
Competencies for nursing professional development educators     10
Difference between NPD competencies and academic educator competencies     11
Developing educator competencies     15
Performing a nursing professional development research study     15
Origins of the competencies     15
Ongoing research     16
Validating the results     17
Refining the results     17
Creating a framework for educator competencies     19
Key concepts     19
Using ANA standards to build a framework     20
Standards of practice     20
Standards of professional performance     21
Measuring outcomes     23
Choosing a model     24
Benner's novice-to-expert theory     24
Ordering the competencies to reflect the novice-to-expert continuum     25
Final list of competencies by category     27
What educators are able to do: "Doing the right thing"     27
How educators approach practice: "Doing the thing right"     28
Development of individual attributes: "Right person doing it"     29
Methods to validate competencies     31
How do you measure competence?     31
Competency checklists     33
Other tools to validate competence     34
Post-tests     34
Case studies     34
Simulated events     35
Observations of daily work     35
Differentiating competencies and performance     35
Differentiating levels of competence     36
Applications of the competencies to practice     39
Self-assessment     41
Using the checklist as a self-assessment tool     41
What should be assessed?     42
Be honest with yourself     42
Criterion-based position descriptions     45
Developing position descriptions     45
Before writing a position description      46
Orientations for new educators     63
Using the checklist to create an orientation     63
Performance appraisals and professional development plans     73
Types of performance appraisals     73
Performance appraisals for staff educators     74
Professional development plans     78
Reflect on development     79
Professional portfolios     81
Key concepts     81
Why create a portfolio?     81
Building a portfolio     83
Using a portfolio     84
Helping others develop professional portfolios     84
Documenting cultural competence     87
Key concepts     87
Cultural competence and NPD educators     88
Components of cultural competence     89
Strategies to promote cultural competence     90
Future trends     93
Potential applications of the competencies     95
Graduate nursing education programs     95
Scope and Standards of Nursing Professional Development     96
Resource for certification exam     96
Job function analysis     97
Development plan for new role     97
ANCC Magnet Recognition Program     98
Need for additional research     98
Nursing professional development competency tool     101
Nursing education instructional guide     125
Continuing education exam     129
Continuing education evaluation     134