Using research to find the effects of process-oriented educational assessment in critical care nursing practice

This 1-year study was undertaken in the southeast of England to investigate whether a process-oriented educational assessment procedure was sustainable, following research in a sample of five critical care environments. Data were derived from clinical practice supervisors and students in each of two consecutive post-registration cohorts, selected from the following areas: intensive and coronary care units; neonatal nursing; medical-surgical units; operating theatres; and accident and emergency departments. The existing measure and then a modified assessment measure for resuscitation ability, were used to evaluate the effect of educational assessment in clinical settings. Data were collected using questionnaires with cohort 1 before and cohort 2 after introduction of an assessment grid developed by the course team based on data from focus group discussions during the clinical supervisors' workshops. The findings indicated that the descriptors of levels of attainment generated by the students and supervisors were in accord with Benner's descriptors (this had increased by phase 2 of the research). Students and supervisors considered that the assessment process increased their critical thinking abilities, but that finding time for supervision and assessment was difficult. Future work will focus on the development of a generic grid with criteria that can be used to guide assessment of any practice experience.