After this session you’ll be able to:

1. Discuss the overview of a new unit-based competency model.
2. Describe the difference between initial and ongoing competency assessment processes.
3. Explain the advantages and disadvantages of the new model for education and competency tracking.

Why this is important:

Safe patient care requires all nursing staff to demonstrate different competencies such as learning a new medical device, preparing items for surgery, and critically resolving issues in surgery. These perioperative competencies are easy to identify, but a clear method of validating them is often elusive. As nurse leaders, we must continue to challenge current processes and improve means for validating these competencies.

The unit-based competency assessment model offers a robust process for onboarding nursing staff and maintaining their proficiency. Advantages of this model include its ability to provide a clear role for all stakeholders such as preceptees, preceptors, managers, and educators. Learn about a new process for evaluating proficiencies of your OR nurses that you can share with your team.