Evaluating clinical decision-making skills of nurse practitioner students

The evaluation of clinical competencies of nurse practitioner (NP) students has traditionally been accomplished by direct observation of student-patient interactions. Adult and family NP faculty at the Medical University of South Carolina directly observe students at their clinical site at least twice each semester. Recently, faculty recognized the need for additional validation of clinical decision-making skill development and added the Clinical Competency Evaluation (CCE), a standardized simulated patient encounter, to the evaluation process. The purpose of the CCE is to (a) maximize use of available evaluation technology, (b) evaluate student clinical skills in a controlled, standardized environment using a criterion-referenced format, (c) give students an additional performance feedback mechanism, and (d) identify benchmarks to validate student advancement and completion of the NP program. This article discusses how the CCE process was developed, current methods of conducting and grading the examination, faculty and student evaluation of the outcomes, and recommendations.