Does anyone know if there was a supportive description developed for each competency generated in the ANTS Nurse Teacher competencies?
In all my research, I have not found any competencies for the ANTS Nurse Teacher. If anyone finds some, I would also like to see them. Maria
Hello Maria,
The Australian Nurse Teacher Competencies (2010) are on the ANTS website (this website). They are in the left hand column. Look in the left hand column and you will see the first item "About Us". Look down that column and you will see a PDF document "Australian Nurse Teacher Competencies 2010".
Sandra Campbell-Crofts
Hi Maria
I had a look at the ANTS Competencies and I interpreted them as Competencies and sub-competencies and I get the feeling that you are seeking what I would call 'Performance Criteria' to match the competencies. Similar to the cues and clues given with the competencies devised by ANMC in regards to the performance of RNs, ENs, Midwives and Nurse/Midwife Practitioners
The Qld Health Preceptor Program indicates that Performance Criteria must:
- describe a behaviour to be performed
- be observable and measurable
- be described fully, clearly and unambiguously
- describe a single behaviour
- include a basis or standard for judging whether it's acceptable or not
- make performance standards more explicit by referring to a written document
- only include the elements of the particular behaviour
- emphasise clinical aspect rather than solely cognitive performance requirements (i.e. don't use terms such as 'knows'; 'understands'; or 'appreciates'
- be written in terms of what is required of the learner
- be explicit enough so that there is no room for interpretation
- specify the task/skill
This list is clearly aimed at clinical performance but I get it that a neophyte educator would like some examples of what is actually done to meet the competencies to help develop their skills, also a guide as to what you would see an educator do or say to meet the competencies.
It would be a major exercise, so if you work with a number of educators it might be an idea to form a group in your health service to identify what you would expect to see.
At the moment there are no descriptors (cues/performance criteria) for the competencies but it is worth considering. I will raise it at the next Executive meeting.
At School of Nursing and Midwifery, Uni of Newcastle we are using the ANTS competencies to assess clinical educators - both professionally and personally. The Network of Clinical Coordinators (NCC NSW) is hoping to refine these and then they can be used nationally (NCC National) . However, looks like we need to do some work in providing explanatory background to each competency - our clinical educators have been asking for this.
Hi, glad you are interested in the competencies. I just checked and if you go to the ANTS website home page, on the left hand side menu there is a heading of the ANTS competencies - click on this and then a box with text in it appears. Underneath this box is the link to the pdf file in blue - just click on it. I have just tried it and it worked. Hope this helps.
Christine
Hello everyone, This is an interesting conversation!
I wanted to let you know what our team are doing, which we hope will contribute to ANTS, to the professional advancement of nursing education in Australia, and to invite your input!
Our team are pursuing the assumption that nursing education is a specialty and, in addition to competencies, which set minimum standards and are required for accountability and development purposes, there is also a place for professional capabilities.
Professional capabilities have been adopted by the nurse practitioner movement because of the argument that competencies do not sufficiently describe the advanced aspects of a specialist's scope of practice (Gardner et al., 2008).
That is, competencies tend to describe skills performed, but over-look complex professional capabilities that are not necessarily technical or procedural, such as seeing problems and issues as potential research topics, innovating, inspiring, leading or facilitating leadership in others.
We think this applies also to nurse education. Such intellectual abilities may provide a more expanded view of professional practice and a vision for what is possible for the profession, rather than what are minimum expectations.
Our team are in the process of developing an instrument called "Capabilities of the professional nurse educator", and we would really like to hear from you if you would like to help us establish validity of the domains and elements.
Would love to hear from you.
With kind regards,
Professor Margaret McAllister
HI, this sounds really interesting. I would like to hear more. You can contact me on ch.taylor@uws.edu.au
Thanks - Christine Taylor