A comparison of clinical evaluation tools in hospitals and baccalaureate nursing programs

This study compared nurse educators' and hospital administrators' expectations of graduating baccalaureate students by analyzing the content of clinical evaluation tools in two settings: the last medical-surgical rotation and the beginning staff-level position. Ten baccalaureate nursing programs and 10 large university hospitals were studied as pairs. Evaluation tool criteria were divided into six role categories: care giver, client teacher, manager-team member, communicator, investigator, and professional. The study yielded data regarding similarities and differences regarding behaviors expected by schools and hospitals. The highest rates of similarity were found in the care giver and professional roles. The greatest difference was found in the manager-team member role with hospitals including many more of the behaviors. Few behaviors in the investigator role were included by school-hospital pairs, but schools included more of the behaviors than hospitals.