Teaching the skills of assessment through the use of an experiential workshop

Assessment is a key element of the nursing process, yet the skills required to perform a nursing assessment are poorly defined in the literature. Related to this, nurse education does not adequately address how it might be possible to develop in students the skills required to plan individualised care. As a contribution to this important area of nurse education, this paper describes the first term of an assessment course, an important component of which is an experiential workshop. This workshop introduces students to the skills of observation, measurement and testing as used when assessing physiological indicators of health status. The workshop was designed to facilitate an understanding of the connection between the students' knowledge of biological sciences and nursing practice.