Preparing Learners to Meet Expected Clinical Behaviors
Overview
This resource is best used as an experiential, formative learning activity to provide students with an opportunity to practice specific behaviors for selected sub-competencies from Domains #3 and #9 prior to their entering clinical sites.
How to Use
This resource is useful for any nursing course where the student is developing an understanding of specific behaviors from selected sub-competencies in the AACN Essentials 2021, Domains 3 and 9, before their application of these behaviors into their clinical practice areas.
- Faculty use the AACN Essentials (2021) to use the selected competencies (3 and 9) and sub-competencies (see list below) foundational to the course being taught.
- Faculty selects pre-determined case studies that will enable students to practice and receive feedback on the specific behaviors of the assigned sub-competencies.
- Students are directed to create an in-class instructional lecture and discussion that demonstrates their understanding of the expected behaviors of the assigned sub-competencies in a clinical setting. This will be supported by a PowerPoint presentation using faculty-pre-selected case study scenarios to illustrate the application of these behaviors.
- Students create a PowerPoint presentation for the class using faculty-pre-selected case study scenarios to demonstrate how the nurse applies care that meets the assigned sub-competencies.
- Non-presenting students are expected to write a reflection on the content presented and document how they would demonstrate meeting the sub-competencies in their respective clinical setting.
- Simulation-based case studies may be a substitute for textbook case studies. Presenting students may demonstrate the expected behaviors through an instructional presentation integrated into a simulation-based scenario.
Integrative Learning Strategies
- The student becomes the facilitator of the in-class learning assignment.
- Each presenter will demonstrate how each assigned competency and sub-competency can be best utilized in providing patient care.
- The students will spend time understanding the (1) assigned sub-competency, (2) prepare to facilitate teaching, and finally, (3) be ready to apply the newly learned behaviors (either during the concurrent semester or in a subsequent semester) into their respective clinical setting.
Assessment Strategies
Possible Courses
- Professional Role of Nurses
- Leadership/Management
- Professional, Legal, and Ethics in Nursing
- Community/Population Health
- Clinical Internship/Culminating Nursing Experience
- Transition to the Professional Role of Nursing
- Nursing Health Policy
AACN-ANF Funding Acknowledgment Statement
This project was supported by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing’s (AACN) Competency-Based Education for Practice-Ready Nurses Project funded through the American Nurses Foundation’s (ANF) Reimagining Nursing Initiative. The contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not represent the official views of AACN and ANF.
Sub-competencies for entry-level professional nursing education:
Domain 3: Population Health
- 3.1i: Identify ethical principles to protect the health and safety of diverse populations.
- 3.2b: Demonstrate effective collaboration and mutual accountability with relevant stakeholders.
- 3.2c: Use of culturally and linguistically responsive communication strategies.
Domain 9: Professionalism
- 9.1a: Apply principles of professional nursing ethics and human rights in patient care and professional situations.
- 9.1c: Demonstrate ethical behaviors in practice.
- 9.1f: Safeguard privacy, confidentiality, and autonomy in all interactions.
- 9.2d: Advocate for practices that advance diversity, equity, and inclusion.
- 9.3g: Advocate for social justice and health equity, including addressing the health of vulnerable populations.
- 9.4a: Advocate for policies that promote health and prevent harm.
- 9.4b: Adhere to the registered nurse's scope and standards of practice.
- 9.5b: Demonstrate the core values of professional nursing identity.
- 9.6 a: Demonstrate respect for diverse individual differences and diverse communities and populations.
- 9.6b: Demonstrate awareness of personal and professional values and conscious and unconscious biases.
- 9.6c: Integrate core principles of social justice and human rights into practice.
Posted: August 27, 2024
Submitted by:
Carmen Ward-Sullivan, PhD, RN, Associate Dean, Academic Programs, Samuel Merritt University, College of Nursing