Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

Using Learning Outcome Measures to assess Doctoral Nursing Education
Published on: June 21, 2010
Educators must consider patient outcomes when assessing the impact of clinical training
1Clinical and Health Research Group, Division of Clinical Epidemiology, Faculty of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada. dale.dauphinee@mcgill.ca
Context:
The concept of outcomes has been used in health care for over 140 years. The use of outcomes in assessing quality of care regained prominence in the 1960s based on Donabedian's framework of structures, processes and outcomes. In the 1990s, the use of outcomes in medical education gained great favour, although the outcomes used were not carefully defined. Recently, a debate has ensued about the costs and, thus, sustainability of current health care programmes, focusing on the (non-)necessity of services, missed prevention opportunities and the efficiency of treatment programmes. Measurements using education outcomes and health care outcomes must take these issues into account, preferably from a common framework. As health care becomes increasingly costly and even inefficient, issues of effectiveness are often neglected in policy making.
Methods:
This paper uses peer-reviewed evidence and an outcomes framework to explore the implications of current realities for the makers of education policy in the health professions and for the staff who train health professionals.
Discussion:
If the ultimate impacts of practices and policies in health professions education are not considered, how will we know if our education structures, processes and outcomes are optimal? This essay examines this question from the perspectives of three related issues. The first refers to the need for a common framework if the outcomes of patient and community care are to be evaluated properly. The second perspective refers to whether it is feasible to consider both patient-based outcomes and patient-reported outcomes in assessing the impact of education programmes, especially at more advanced levels of training. The third perspective concerns the challenges and limitations that may be encountered in focusing on patient outcomes as a measure of the impact of education. The concluding discussion suggests how the results of such longer-term impact studies should be interpreted as key validity checks on the quality and effectiveness of medical education and clinical education if we are to address the validity and efficiency of outcomes used in education and training.
Related Concept Videos
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching III: Evaluation and Documentation
Nurses can use several methods to evaluate patient outcomes. For example, oral questions can assess cognitive learning, patient...
Nursing Evaluation
Section...
Guidelines for Writing Outcome
Patient outcomes reflect the patient's response to the goal rather than what the nurse aims to achieve. Terminology should be observable and measurable to avoid the reader's interpretation. The desired outcome should be realistic and achievable in the designated care timeframe. Expected outcomes should align with adjunctive therapies. The outcome should enhance care evaluation by...
Patient-centered Care
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching I: Assessment and Diagnosis
It is critical to determine the patient's learning needs during the assessment. Determination of learning needs compounds data from the...
Nursing Process for Patient and Caregiver Teaching II: Planning and Implementation
