The Professional Portfolio: An Evidence-Based Assessment Method

Competency assessment is critical for a myriad of disciplines, including medicine, law, education, and nursing. Many nurse managers and educators are responsible for nursing competency assessment, and assessment results are often used for annual reviews, promotions, and satisfying accrediting agencies\u27 requirements. Credentialing bodies continually seek methods to measure and document the continuing competence of licensees or certificants. Many methods and frameworks for continued competency assessment exist. The portfolio process is one method to validate personal and professional accomplishments in an interactive, multidimensional manner. This article illustrates how portfolios can be used to assess competence. One specialty nursing certification board\u27s process of creating an evidence-based portfolio for recertification or reactivation of a credential is used as an example. The theoretical background, development process, implementation, and future implications may serve as a template for other organizations in developing their own portfolio models

Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Course Integrated Library Instruction in an Undergraduate Nursing Program

Many faculty in two Schools of Nursing found that students in the fourth year of the Bachelor of Nursing program were not well equipped to perform information literacy activities efficiently and effectively, such as doing research to support their daily work. A course-integrated information literacy program was implemented at both sites, which left some students having very little information literacy training, whereas others who started the program in later years had information literacy training in all or most years of the curriculum. This study sought to evaluate students as they gained more experience with information literacy. Methods: To determine if increased exposure to information literacy training improved students’ levels of competency and confidence, the authors compared first-year students with two groups of fourth-year students who had differing exposures to information literacy. Results: Acceptable response rates for data analysis were acquired at only one site. It was found that overall, fourth-year students were more confident and tested better with information literacy competencies than first-year students, but there was not as much improvement as was hypothesized. Discussion: The results of this evaluation have demonstrated a need to improve the information literacy teaching in certain areas. The data have also indicated that students do indeed retain information literacy skills with an increased number of sessions. Further areas for study are outlined as well as the limitations and strengths of the study design