Development of a Nursing Competency Assessment Tool: A Pilot Study inside the Department of Pediatric Intensive Care
1PhD student, University of Verona, Italy; Nurse Practitioner, PICU Major Civil Hospital of Verona, Italy
2Head Nurse, Pediatric Department, Major Civil Hospital of Verona, Italy
3Head of Departments of Pediatrics, Major City Hospital, Major Civil Hospital of Verona, Italy
4university of Verona, Italy, 5university of Verona, Italy
Abstract
Aim: The paper aims to describe the development and test of the Nursing Competencies Assessment Tool
(NCAT), an indicator framework thought to support nursing professional development. It is argued that the
NCAT application method can represent a worthwhile tool to assess nursing competences on novice, advanced
beginner, competent and proficient nurses.
Background: Several elements composing nursing competency profile have been examined by many authors.
Actually managers needed practical and user-friendly instruments that respected specific characteristic of
different settings.
Methods: The presented pilot study exploited a mixed methods approach, including: a literature review to create
an indicator framework, self-administered questionnaires submitted to expert nurses, consensus meetings to
elaborate the integration program and a final control group comparison. NCAT was before tested in a Pediatric
Intensive Care Unit, later we retested NCAT in a pediatric unit with a semi–intensive area.
Results: All indicators have been considered pertinent and relevant by expert nurses. Every nurses found the
integration plan easy to understand and useful for their work. The control group comparison emphasized the
importance in nurses’ group opinions.
Conclusion: The NCAT implementation method represents a reliable and reproducible tool aimed to evaluate
nurses’ competence profiles respecting the specific context. Further studies are now needed to evaluate the
chance to transfer in a profitable way the emerged indicators in several other adults and pediatrics contexts.
