How do Registered Nurses utilise self assessment and performance appraisal to inform their professional practice?

The regulatory requirements to practise as a registered nurse in New Zealand incorporate feedback and self assessment structured to provide safe nursing practice. The Nursing Council of New Zealand regulates the practice of nurses under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003), a legislative change introducing a significant shift for New Zealand nurses, in relation to nursing practice. This introduced a signed self-declaration of competence completed by each registered nurse, when applying for their annual practising certificate, along with the expectation for nurses to participate in self, peer and other performance assessment. This thesis describes an exploratory study of registered nurses within a local District Health Board which pursued ‘if’ and ‘how’ professional practice frameworks assisted nurses in their individual professional practice. Self assessment and performance appraisal became the focus of my research. A qualitative descriptive framework was utilised to explore the research question, where experiences of registered nurses employed within inpatient adult medical and surgical settings were collected through questionnaire. Analysis of the data was informed by general inductive thematic approach. Eight themes evolved, of which, two have sub-themes. The first four themes relate to self assessment and performance appraisal and the second four themes relate to professional practice. The findings from the participant’s perspective provide an understanding of how participants’ utilised self assessment and performance appraisal to inform their professional practice. There are significant implications for professional practice within the findings of this study, which are presented along with recommendations for future practice, and future avenues for research. The evidence suggests that nurses are not using forms of assessment to inform their practice consciously and with multiple tensions in existence, effectiveness is influenced. There is also evidence in this research that nurses have begun to distrust the process and those involved in it. Recommendations focus on providing opportunities for nurses to access multiple sources and processes of feedback to incorporate into their professional practice.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master if Nursing

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Grantor

Eastern Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Kennedy, Wendy

• Hawke's Bay (N.Z.)
• New Zealand
• self-assessment
• registered nurses
• inpatient setting
• performance appraisal
• professional practice
• professional portfolios
• surveys

Statement dc:rights

• All rights reserved

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10652/6601

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:null:10652/6601