Improving the Competency of Nurses

Petra J Porte; Lisanne M Verweij; Carlos Fernando Collares; Martine C de Bruijne; Cees P M van der Vleuten; Cordula Wagner

doi:10.1097/NAN.0000000000000395

Improving the Competency of Nurses

J Infus Nurs. 2020 Nov/Dec;43(6):357-368. doi: 10.1097/NAN.0000000000000395.

Authors

Petra J Porte^{1

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7}, Lisanne M Verweij^{1

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7}, Carlos Fernando Collares^{1

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7}, Martine C de Bruijne^{1

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7}, Cees P M van der Vleuten^{1

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7}, Cordula Wagner^{1

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7}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Public and Occupational Health, Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute (APH) Amsterdam UMC, VU University Medical Center (VUmc), Amsterdam, The Netherlands (Drs Porte, de Bruijne, and Wagner); Netherlands Institute for Health Services Research (NIVEL), Utrecht, The Netherlands (Drs Porte, Verweij, and Wagner); Department of Educational Development and Research, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, The Netherlands (Drs Collares and van der Vleuten).
² Petra J. Porte, PhD, was a PhD trainee at NIVEL and the Amsterdam Public Health Research Institute. She obtained her PhD in medicine with research on the safe use of medical devices.
³ Lisanne M. Verweij, PhD, is a VU University Health Science and Epidemiology scholar who provides expertise on evaluation and implementation of patient safety initiatives that combine medical technology. Dr Verweij is currently involved in research value-based health care (VBHC) at Erasmus MC hospital in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. She guides evidence-based practice during implementation of VBHC in collaboration with multidisciplinary disease teams.
⁴ Carlos Fernando Collares, MD, PhD, is assistant professor of medical education in the Department of Educational Development and Research of the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences at Maastricht University, as well as assessment specialist for the European Board of Medical Assessors. He is a pioneer in the implementation of computerized adaptive progress testing, which, by dynamically adjusting the difficulty of the test according to the test takers' performance, shortens the test, reduces testing time, and increases the reliability of scores, especially for students in the early academic years.
⁵ Martine C. de Bruijne, MD, PhD, is a professor of public health and quality of care at Amsterdam UMC. Dr de Bruijne is trained as a public health physician (2008), as well as in clinical epidemiology (PhD 1997) and health informatics (1991). Her research is directed at multidisciplinary teamwork, including the patient- and human-centered design to optimize quality and safety of care. Currently, her research is connected to national and local implementation of value-based health care.
⁶ Cees P.M. van der Vleuten, PhD, has been at the University of Maastricht since 1982. In 1996 he was appointed professor of education and chair of the Department of Educational Development and Research in the Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences. Since 2005 he has been scientific director of the School of Health Professions Education. His primary expertise is in evaluation and assessment. He has published widely in this domain and holds numerous academic awards, including several career awards. He serves frequently as a consultant internationally.
⁷ Cordula Wagner, PhD, is executive director of NIVEL in Utrecht and works as a professor of patient safety at VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam. She is also head of the patient safety research center "Safety 4 Patients," a collaboration of the Institute for Research in Extramural Medicine (EMGO+/VUmc) and NIVEL. Dr Wagner's main interest is the improvement of organizational structures and cultures to improve health care for patients.

PMID: 33141797
DOI: 10.1097/NAN.0000000000000395

Abstract

To decrease infusion pump administration errors, time-consuming training is often initiated. The aims of this study were twofold: to develop minimum competency requirements for programming and operation of infusion pumps and to develop and validate a test for nurses based on those requirements. The test was completed by 226 nurses between May and December 2017. This study demonstrates that testing is a promising method to assess the competency of nurses in using medical devices. Moreover, test acceptability among nurses is high. Using competency requirements to develop a test offers the potential to tailor training needs and reduce training time.

MeSH terms

Clinical Competence / standards*
Home Infusion Therapy*
Humans
Infusion Pumps*
Medication Errors / prevention & control*
Nursing Staff / standards*