Monitoring the quality of pre-registration education: development, validation and piloting of competency based performance indicators for newly qualified nurses

The clinical competence or `fitness for purposeʹ of newly qualified nurses continues to be an important professional and corporate issue that as yet has no objective means of assessment. A mixed group of managers, clinicians and educationalists was commissioned to develop a method for the measurement and evaluation of performance during the first year of employment of newly qualified nurses. Two instruments were developed and the results of the initial pilot study are demonstrated in this article. The results are preceded by a review of the relevant literature. The initial pilot study results indicate that in the case of both instruments the tests designed do give clear results on the small numbers used. A complete picture of the validity of the audit tool will not be seen until the results of the full validation study, including the above exercise, are known. However, the results to date indicate that the instruments have the potential to demonstrate the clinical competency of newly qualified staff on employment in their first post and their development over the first year of employment.