From development to evaluation. Making a competency plan work

Staff development educators face numerous challenges because of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) standards, continuous quality improvement, and economic constraints. For many, the most difficult challenge is complying with the JCAHO requirement for initial and ongoing competency, which must be validated for all nursing personnel. In this article, the authors describe how the educational nurse specialists of a tertiary care, regional referral medical center facilitated the development, implementation, and evaluation of a competency plan to validate initial and ongoing competency for all personnel within Nursing Services.