Clinical Evaluation

Unfortunately, the clinical aspect of nursing school only utilizes the performance appraisal tools for students. Although that is extremely beneficial for the school and students adding a 360-degree evaluation could enhance students’ clinical outcomes. A 360-degree evaluation does not just involve the decision of one person, but a peer review as well and self-assessment (Marquis& Huston, 2017). This means other students, other staff, nurses and charge nurses and the student can add input on evaluations. Allowing multiple insight on a student’s performance to a clinical instructor can help ensure the passing of a student is the right decision or it could possibly influence it to change. There are times at clinical when a student will document an assessment of a

patient without doing a complete assessment. The instructor may not know this because the student gave no reason for this neglect to be a concern. However, if other students know the assessment has not been completed the instructor will now know because it is a part of the evaluation. The 360-degree evaluation can be done anonymously which will give the students more freedom to speak up (Marquis& Huston, 2017).

The students will feel more comfortable to confront a situation that involves another classmate. Also, if the instructor incorporates the actual patient’s feedback it could confirm the student did not complete an assessment. Now instead of the instructor giving a passing grade for the day, a clinical warning can replace it because of false documentation. Multiple sources giving information on a person’s performance can make the evaluation process more accurate (Marquis& Huston, 2017). Allowing the nurses on the unit to share their experience with the student will allow the instructor to have a different perceptive on the student. The nurse may advise the instructor about the nursing student utilizing good nursing judgment. This again could be information the instructor would not know if the nurse was not included in the evaluation process. This could benefit a student who gets nervous when the clinical instructor is around and may not demonstrate quality nursing judgment. An advantage the students gain from this is that multiple people are reviewing their performance, not just

one. More insight into all aspect of nursing can provide additional information that a clinical instructor may overlook because they are one person with multiple students at a time. Also, if nursing students know the staff of the hospital can evaluate their performance in can increase students demonstrating professionalism at all times.
Conclusion
A nursing student may be able to achieve high grades on an exam, but the concern is if they can apply that knowledge to a real nursing situation. The way to determine if this is realistic for a student is to evaluate the progress in clinical. Utilizing the performance appraisal methods like traits rating scale and forced checklist by the clinical instructor will monitor the students throughout each clinical. The instructor will provide both positive feedback that will allow the student know what is satisfactory, what needs improvement and what is unacceptable. This same information will determine if the student will pass or fail clinical. This performance review is an advantage for the students because it is preparing them for the expectations of an actual nurse. It can also benefit the students if a 360-degree evaluation takes place before the final decision of passing