Preceptor and Self-Evaluation Competencies Among New RN Graduates

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Healthcare Quality Improvement
• Professional Development in Nursing

Background:

• Transition-to-practice programs are crucial for new registered nurse (RN) graduates.
• The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) competencies provide a framework for essential nursing knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSAs).
• Consistent and reliable evaluation of these KSAs is needed for program effectiveness.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe the initial reliability and validity testing of a new 35-item tool designed to assess QSEN competencies in new RN graduates.
• To evaluate the tool's effectiveness in measuring the KSAs of participants in transition-to-practice programs.

Main Methods:

• Development of a 35-item tool with a 4-point scale to assess selected behaviors related to QSEN KSAs.
• Initial reliability testing using Cronbach's alpha for both preceptor and self-evaluation.
• Face validity assessment by six content experts, including discrimination between student and faculty levels.

Main Results:

• The tool demonstrated good internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha values of 0.92 for preceptor evaluation and 0.82 for self-evaluation.
• Content experts confirmed face validity, and the tool differentiated between junior nursing students and faculty.
• The tool provides a practical method for assessing competencies among newly graduated nurses.

Conclusions:

• The developed tool shows promising initial reliability and validity for assessing QSEN competencies in new RN graduates.
• This tool can support consistent evaluation within transition-to-practice programs.
• Further refinement may be needed to comprehensively cover all QSEN KSAs.