Introduction: Competence has been a term subject to many interpretations over the years. This discrepancy in agreement is not due to the clash of minds but mostly the fruit of differences in expectations and legal requirements of local healthcare systems. As a result, the assessment of competence has been subject to dynamic changes with abundance of literature published to address its properties from different angles. This research project is designed to explore a number of unknowns: firstly, we aim to explore what it is meant by competence and compare it to how it is defined by the regulators. Once this is established, such expectations are to be compared to the expectations of the Educational Supervisors (ESs): the trainers who are in charge of training the newly qualified dentists. The next goal of this project is to shed light on how students perceive competence and explore the assessment methods that reflect such competencies best. Once known, these assessment methods will be explored in the national level to understand how they are implemented. The project also aims to explore if such assessment methods could be improved and finally, to examine if new assessment methods can be introduced to the field of medical and dental education with significant benefits and advantages. Methodology: A mixed-method approach was chosen, consisted of qualitative, quantitative and descriptive statistics. Results: Profile of a competent newly qualified dentist as described by the regulatory bodies, ESs and students was discussed. The most reflective assessment methods to illustrate students' competencies were identified and their use at national level explored. We looked at the bench marking of the OSCEs and where the line of competence is drawn, and finally, we developed a new mathematical model that can predict competence after observing a number of clinical encounters. Conclusion: Several conclusions and recommendations were drawn and discussed at their relevant chapter.

Magister Curationis - MCur / In our constantly changing healthcare system and with large numbers of staff shortages in hospitals, newly qualified professional nurses are expected to be competent and work unsupervised in leadership capacities soon after they have completed their nursing programs. The study was aimed at determining the perceptions of professional nurses of newly qualified professional nurses' competency as well as factors that influence competency. A quantitative approach using a descriptive survey design was employed, using 34 experienced professional nurses working in selected private hospitals in the Western Cape. Data was collected by means of a peer evaluation questionnaire, namely the Competency Inventory for Registered nurses. Data was analyzed, using IBM SPSS 19 with the assistance of a statistician. The results of the 55-item Competency Inventory for Registered Nurses indicate that newly qualified nurses were perceived as highly competent in clinical care, leadership, interpersonal relation, legal/ethical and professional development. Newly qualified nurses were perceived as low in competency in teaching/coaching, critical thinking and research aptitude. All the factors identified using literature, were perceived as having an influence on competency. Recommendations were made to the institutions to assist newly qualified nurses in competence development.

Cognitive studies of clinical comprehension reveal that expert clinicians are distinguished by their superior ability to recognize meaningful patterns of data in clinical narratives. For example, in psychiatry, the findings of hallucinations and delusions suggest the subdiagnostic hypothesis of a psychotic episode, which in turn suggests several diagnoses, including schizophrenia. This dissertation describes the design and evaluation of a system that aims to simulate an important aspect of expert comprehension: the ability to recognize clusters of findings that support sub-diagnostic hypotheses. The broad range of content in psychiatric narrative presents a formidable barrier to achieving this goal, as it contains general concepts and descriptions of the subjective experience of psychiatric patients in addition to general medical and psychiatric concepts. Lexically driven language processing of such narrative would require the exhaustive predefinition of every concept likely to be encountered. In contrast, Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is a corpus-based statistical model of language that learns human-like estimates of the similarity between concepts from a text corpus. LSA is adapted to create trainable models of sub-diagnostic hypotheses, which are then used to recognize related elements in psychiatric discharge summary text. The system is evaluated against an independently annotated set of psychiatric discharge summaries. System-rater agreement approached rater-rater agreement, providing support for the practical application of vector-based models of meaning in domains with broad conceptual territory. Other applications and implications are discussed, including the presentation of a prototype user interface designed to enhance novice comprehension of psychiatric discourse.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rand Graduate School, 2002. / Title from web page (viewed Aug. 27, 2003). Includes bibliographical references.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology in Nursing, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Background The Council for Higher Education and the South African Nursing Council accredit institutions with learning and assessment practices which aim to develop and prepare graduates to be critical thinkers. The undergraduate nursing programme at the Durban University of Technology introduced the writing of reflective journals by their students in 2011. Students submitted journals of poor quality which lacked reflection. Aim of the study The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of guided reflective journals by assessing the levels of reflection of the undergraduate nursing students during clinical learning and practice. Methodology An exploratory sequential mixed methods design, using quantitative and qualitative paradigm, was used for this study. A purposive sample of 40 participants was used to collect data. A perceptions questionnaire was administered to the 40 participants to determine their perceptions on how they experienced writing of the reflective journals. Content analysis was used to analyse the written content of the reflective journals. Descriptive statistics such a Chi-square goodness of fit and Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test were used determine levels of reflections and the differences in the first and second journals. Lincoln and Guba’s 1985 criteria for trustworthiness were applied to the study. Results Analysis of the journals revealed lower levels of reflection in the first reflective journal compared to improved levels in the second journal. Furthermore, the participants generally expressed writing of reflective journals as a valuable tool in professional, personal development as well as clinical learning. Levels of reflection and development of reflective practice will be greatly enhanced if all involved in nurse education will actively participate in encouraging writing of reflective journals by student nurses.

Professional competence is expected of all nurses in practice. Although new nurses have met the competency requirement for practice legally, opinions vary among new nurses and nurse administrators as to whether new nurses are indeed competent to practice nursing. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to learn what new nurses think about professional competence. The research question guiding this study was, "What is professional competence from the perspective of newly licensed registered nurses?" / by Priscilla Dunson Bartolone. / Vita. / Thesis (D.N.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2008. / Includes bibliography. / Electronic reproduction. Boca Raton, Fla., 2008. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Title from first page of PDF file. Includes bibliographical references (p. 166-172).

Critical thinking skills have been identified as important for practicing nurses to acquire. Therefore, nurse educators have a responsibility to improve the critical thinking skills of nursing students. There is limited research related to critical thinking and nursing education especially in the clinical environment. Nurses need finely honed critical thinking skills in order to be safe, competent, and skillful practitioners of their profession.The purpose of this research was to study the way nursing faculty use clinical situations to develop critical thinking in student nurses. The research question was: How do nursing faculty use clinical situations to develop critical thinking in nursing students?In researching this question a grounded theory approach was chosen. The grounded theory approach allows for the development of theory or extension of existing theory which can be used to build on or base future research in nursing education (Chenitz & Swanson, 1986).Data collection was completed using open-ended interviews and participant observation which is consistent with the grounded theory approach. The constant comparative method of data analysis was used to compare and contrast data between and among identified groups.Clinical nursing instructors were asked to participate in the study. The subjects were interviewed and observed teaching in the clinical environment. Confidentiality was guaranteed through coding and destruction of the field notes upon completion of the project. Participation was voluntary and subjects could withdraw at any time from the study.There were no identifiable risks involved in the study. Potential benefits were increased awareness of strategies to develop critical thinking skills and contributions to improve nursing education.Setting the stage for critical thinking in nursing education was identified as the core category. The data supported the development of critical thinking in the clinical environment related to trusting relationships in a risk-free environment. Teaching strategies that contribute to the development of critical thinking were identified. Nursing faculty recognize the importance of critical thinking to nursing and attempt to instill critical thinking in the nursing students. / School of Nursing

The purpose of this study was to identify the complete scope, cognitive, affective and psychomotor, of clinical competencies required for the successful practice by entry-level associate degree respiratory care graduates entering the workforce. The study was conducted using a Delphi technique. American Association for Respiratory Care House of Delegates nominated a panel of experts to participate in the study. A total of 55 individuals were nominated and 21 agree to participate in the study. The individuals represented both college-based educators and hospital managers and educators. The initial questionnaire requested that each panel member list those cognitive, affective and psychomotor clinical competencies that they believed to be required for successful entrylevel practice. The responses from the first round were grouped into like categories and returned to the panel members to be rated on a four-point scale during the second and third rounds of the study. Consensus was achieved with the third round resulting in a final list of 26 cognitive, 20 affective and 28 psychomotor clinical competencies. The final list of competencies includes the most basic cognitive and psychomotor skills of the profession and did not include many of the areas listed by the National Board for Respiratory Care exam matrix. The study also lists 20 affective attributes as essential for successful practice. There are no current standardized methods in use to evaluate affective skills. Research will need to continue to clarify the skills needed for competent and successful entry-level practice. / Department of Educational Studies

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Virginia, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 137-145). Also available online through Digital Dissertations.