Development and use of a clinical evaluation tool

Literature in nursing education reveals that there are few standardized clinical evaluation methods or tools used by nurse educators. Faculty at a Midwest school developed a clinical evaluation tool and have used it for one year. A questionnaire, developed and pilot tested, measured student and faculty satisfaction with the tool. Both students and faculty agreed that the tool was an accurate measure of clinical performance. This tool is adaptable to the hospital setting, where it may be used to evaluate the performance of staff nurses. The tool was cited for excellence by NLN visitors during a recent accreditation visit.