Abstract
Competency denotes an expected standard of performance that reflects what a person knows and is able to do in a particular circumstance. The knowledge and skills nursing students develop during their undergraduate studies have a direct impact on patient safety. However, in Australia, the absence of a clearly articulated set of patient safety1 competency statements for nursing students has been a challenge to curriculum development, teaching and student assessment. Although the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards are often used to inform nursing curricula, their key purpose is not educational but to support clinical governance and risk mitigation in acute care. In addition, while Standard 6 of the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia Registered Nurse standards for practice refers to the importance of ‘providing safe, appropriate and responsive quality nursing practice’, the level of detail required for curriculum development or student assessment is limited. For these reasons a Delphi project was conducted to develop a Patient Safety Competency Framework (PSCF) for nursing students.
Keywords
Patient safety, competency, nursing student, competency framework, knowledge, skills, Delphi