
HealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsDeliver custom or industry designed product training directly to patient and resident care environments to reinforce proper use.
View All ProductsTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All ProductsMitigate risk and elevate your quality of care. Improving both clinical and business outcomes starts with a smarter, more integrated approach to regulatory training, continuing education and quality management.
Learn MoreNurses are expected to care for people in the safest, most efficient way possible. To provide high-quality care, nurses must be competent in many skill sets. They must not only maintain their skills but also attain new skills because of changes in healthcare. Regular assessments are one way to be sure of a nurse’s competency.
Healthcare leaders are faced with having to consistently ensure safe and competent care. By its nature, healthcare is constantly changing and evolving. Through research and technological advances, healthcare has become what it is today. Change in healthcare will not stop. New equipment, processes, medications, and diseases will continue to emerge, requiring new skills from nurses.
The focus of healthcare has shifted. Healthcare has become a value-based system. It now looks at the whole person instead of just a condition. Caring for a single person is no longer central; community health is moving to the forefront of healthcare.
It is with these changes that nurses must grow, too. The skills needed to perform their job successfully have changed in concert with the changes in healthcare. The recent changes in healthcare were not likely to have been taught when today’s nurses were in school. These are skills that nurses must attain during their careers and be confident in their competency.
Nursing competency has many definitions. It can be seen as a combination of nursing skills, knowledge, critical thinking, beliefs, and attitudes. Nursing relies upon autonomy and self-regulation. According to the American Nurses Association, it is the nurse’s responsibility to maintain their competency. Thus, nurses should assess their competency throughout their careers.
Nurses must ensure they maintain competence as they progress throughout their careers. At the start of their career, nurses know they are competent in basic skills because they have passed an exam to receive their license. However, with the advent of new technology, processes, and illnesses, more than these basic skills is needed for nurses to care for patients successfully.
Nurses perform many roles, such as patient advocate, nurse leader, researcher, care provider, safety manager, and teacher. The nurse is expected to be competent in whatever role is being performed. This includes staying abreast of changes impacting each role.
For nurses to properly care for and ensure the safety of patients and communities, they must be competent. Nurses can meet these expectations by continuously assessing their competence. The outcomes of the care nurses provide are directly related to the nurses’ competency.
Continuous self-evaluation of nursing competencies can pinpoint areas that need improvement. Identifying areas of need will help to create a plan to improve and attain deficient competencies. It can also help identify staff education needs. Maintaining continuous competency evaluation may also impact the longevity of a nurse’s career and decrease turnover.
When nurses identify there is a lack of competency, it is their responsibility to attain competency in that area. Nurses have many options available to them to improve and maintain their competency. These options include:
Nurses need to be self-aware. Self-reflection may help draw awareness to areas needing improvement. Reflecting on a particular event or even a section of their career can assist in assessing their level of competency.
Nurses have competency in basic nursing skills when they first enter their career, and it generally continues to improve with time. But with the constant change in healthcare, nurses must acknowledge when they are not competent to ensure they can provide the high quality of care needed in the current healthcare environment.
Though employers and governing bodies can require nurses to participate in continuing education, it does not guarantee that nurses have all the competencies needed to perform their job. Nurses should practice a regular process for evaluating their competency to ensure patient and community safety and outcomes. A better way to guarantee competency is to continuously self-evaluate.
HealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All Learning & PerformanceHealthStream offers performance learning management solutions to help develop your healthcare staff into leaders and reduce turnover.
View All ProductsHealthStream works with healthcare organizations to create engaging and high-quality training videos for your staff and management.
View All ProductsImprove care quality and save money by making informed decisions about your healthcare facility and staff with HealthStream's reporting analytics solution.
View All ProductsHealthStream's proven methods for the improvement and overall engagement of your healthcare staff foster a positive workplace and increase retention rates.
View All ProductsThe leadership development program from HealthStream helps mold your high-potential healthcare employees into proven leaders.
View All ProductsWhen you enact HealthStream's quality compliance solutions, you can do so with the confidence your healthcare organization will meet all standards of care.
View All Quality & ComplianceFulfill compliance requirements with a variety of programs and courseware designed to address critical regulatory requirements as well as educate staff to recognize and mitigate risks.
View All ProductsBy increasing your healthcare staff's focus on quality and safety with HealthStream, they can help to reduce medical errors and readmission rates.
View All ProductsLearn about what HealthStream's healthcare policy management software and how it can help aid your organization efforts.
View All ProductsHealthStream's education helps address diversity, equity, and inclusion within your organization, as well as promoting health equity in the communities you serve.
View All ProductsHealthStream offers professional training and education on how to best optimize your reimbursement process within your healthcare organization.
View All ReimbursementTeach your healthcare staff about the revenue cycle and claim management through targeted training and video tools from HealthStream.
View All ProductsLearn about our advanced resuscitation training solutions. Our solutions are designed to help improve patient outcomes.
View All ResuscitationIn all areas of resuscitation, from neonatal to elderly care, clinical deterioration is a risk that can be avoided with the help of HealthStream's training programs.
View All ProductsHealthStream's EMS Program offers a comprehensive, CAPCE accredited EMS course library that meets National Registry annual recertification.
View All ProductsNurture the skills of your nurses and medical staff to help mold them into effective leaders with development training from HealthStream.
View All ProductsExpand the decision-making skills and effectiveness of your healthcare workforce with HealthStream's clinical development programs and services.
View All Clinical DevelopmentMake sure your clinicians have the support they need to provide competent care with clinical competency training and development from HealthStream.
View All ProductsThe suite of healthcare onboarding solutions available from HealthStream aids in nurse retention and improved patient outcomes.
View All ProductsGive your healthcare staff the decision support and skills training they need with the online products available from HealthStream.
View All ProductsHealthStream leverages medical professional development in healthcare by providing staff training programs
View All ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
View All ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's Provider Credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare credentialing, privileging, and enrollment that is smarter and faster than ever before.
View All ProductsAutomated, web-based provider credentialing and enrollment software for growing medical groups.
View All ProductsNCQA-certified CVO verification services for initial and re-credentialing files in an overflow or full-service capacity for healthcare organizations.
View All ProductsSearch, review, and add providers into the Epic provider master file with our Epic app integration, Provider Validate.
View All ProductsMake sure your healthcare staff can schedule out appointments and work schedules with ease using HealthStream's line of software solutions.
View All Scheduling & Capacity ManagementHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
View All ProductsPrecisely align staffing and needed resources to enable efficient patient flow and high-quality, cost-effective patient care.
View All ProductsHealthStream’s free nurse schedule app, NurseGrid™, is built to help you care for your staff and engage with their specific needs.
View All Products