Collaborative framework to assess achievement of American Association of Colleges of Nursing and National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties patient-centered competencies using evolving case studies

Background

The American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN) and National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF) emphasize the role of clinical reasoning in nurse practitioner (NP) competencies. Evidence-based clinical reasoning is vital to patient safety. Collaborative technology tools can aid in assessing progress towards achieving clinical reasoning competency.

Purpose/aims

The purpose of this article is to describe an electronic, collaborative learning framework to teach and assess second year NP students in systematically selecting and eliminating diagnoses and forming treatment plans.

Design/methods

Post gap analysis, the collaborative learning framework was created. This visual, collaborative resource was scaffolded across two sequential advanced NP second year clinical synthesis courses and embedded with evolving case studies. Students identified pertinent positives and negatives from the history, physical, and diagnostic findings. Each student developed a unique differential diagnosis and plan of care and critiqued their peers.

Result/findings

The tool exceeded expectations. Faculty were able to visualize data, provide clarification on interpretation of data and pharmacology, and grade in small groups.

Conclusion

The collaborative learning framework provided real-time visualization of students' work in clinical reasoning. It was easy to use and integrate into second year NP courses to meet learning objectives and assess clinical reasoning competency.