The Nursing Assessment by Hannah

The Nursing Assessment by Hannah - June 2015 Scholarship Essay

With the proposition of an ideal form of assessment, I approach this concept from the perspective of a student nurse. I am currently 2 years away from taking the NCLEX exam. The NCLEX is the final assessment for nurses before they can practice medicine as registered nurses. This includes a multitude of question types to include: multiple choice, fill in the blank, mathematical calculations, multiple-response, and ordered-response. All of which accurately assess a student’s abilities in application of principles, critical thinking, and problem solving.

However, with this testing process, it can create of anxiety to students and impede their ability to perform their best on examination. This resulting from the pressure put on students, to know that passing a class or receiving a certification all depends on answering complex questions accurately. That being said, an ideal form of assessment would be to create an environment free of stress, where a student could simply demonstrate all of their knowledge for a particular subject.

An ideal assessment would mimic a nursing assessment, an accurate analysis of information which is already there. When a nurse walks into a patient room, she performs an assessment of various body systems, to obtain an idea of function for an individual. This gathers information from the patient for which they have no control—they already know everything about their body and are only telling/showing the nurses what they know.

This kind of assessment could be created for students by allowing professors to analyze a student’s performance in the classroom. This includes activities individually and in groups, as well as practical activities. With this, a professor would be able to accurately identify how a student interacts with various relevant simulations.

A foreseeable problem with this method is its ability to be executed for a larger student population. Therefore, another method would be to give students an in class assignment, in an environment like an exam, but present them each with a scenario. From that scenario, a student could then discuss the situation and any potential problem or solutions. This would give an accurate understanding of not only the student’s direct knowledge, but how they are able to apply it.

Examples of current assessment formats which already exist with equal effectiveness include practical examinations. These opportunities allow students to directly demonstrate a skill or concept of knowledge for an examiner. Again with reference to nursing school, this is how hands on nursing skills are assessed. In a controlled testing environment, skills are evaluated before performing them with an actual patient. This assessment environment again allows a student to demonstrate everything they know on a subject, while avoiding complex questions.

I think this kind of approach to assessing students would be ideal because it eliminates the stress factor of examinations and allows a student to be open and share their knowledge in an environment free of restrictions.