Anecdotal notes. Effective clinical evaluation and record keeping

Faculty use numerous techniques to evaluate student nurses' clinical performance. The development of keen observational skills is crucial to evaluating students' performance, but this is only the first step. Fair student evaluations require the faculty member to recall incidents and draw sound conclusions about clinical performance events. There are various tools to assist the nurse educator in evaluating students' clinical performance. The authors describe one such tool, the anecdotal record, used by nursing faculty for clinical record keeping and evaluation. Guidelines for anecdotal record keeping and solutions to common management issues related to anecdotal record keeping are provided.