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 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 ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
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 ProductsCreate engaging and impactful learning experiences that meet the unique needs of your acute care staff.
View All ProductsExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider 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 ProductsFinally, a comprehensive resource to support collecting, storing, and sharing credentialing data with ease.
View All ProductsHealthcare scheduling software designed to optimize staffing requirements & elevate patient care
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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 MoreCompetence lies at the heart of any talent management effort in healthcare. Competency is a cornerstone on which a successful healthcare organization is built. Defining and understanding competence and competency is the first step in managing it effectively.
What do we mean by “competence” and “competency?”
Competence has four intertwined components—knowledge, skills, behavior, and judgment. Employees must first acquire the knowledge to know how to do their work and why. Employees then must learn the skills that are required to succeed in their given role. Employees also must demonstrate the behavior that is required to effectively manage every situation they are likely to encounter. And then, employees must finally develop and use their own judgment to appropriately address situations where an easy or straightforward response is not apparent.
Competency can be defined as the application and demonstration of appropriate knowledge, skills, behaviors, and judgment in a clinical setting. Competency is not merely the product of completing required courses, nor is it measured simply by successfully passing a test or completing a checklist. Rather, competency is confirmed when knowledge and skills are accurately applied at the bedside, and appropriate behaviors and judgments are consistently displayed in practice.
More than just a simple, one-time evaluation, competency is the consistent demonstration and ongoing development of these components in a real-world work setting. Competency in individual employees enables not only wide-spread compliance with an organization’s standards, but ultimately helps to develop real organizational excellence. Emphasizing, promoting, and rewarding development of these four components in each employee is critical. In addition, the best use of a competence-based philosophy requires an organization to actively engage nurses in the competency assessment process and to demonstrate a direct and strong connection between learning, competency, and patient outcomes.
Competence is a complex concept – especially in health care.
At the very least, competency in a healthcare environment requires evaluation of both an employee’s ability to meet job expectations and subsequently to deliver continuous, effective care for patients. Effectiveness is evidenced by improvements in patients’ health status, positive clinical outcomes, improvement in patient safety, and a positive perception of satisfaction with the care given. In short, competency assessment in a healthcare environment involves much more than a checklist and a test, which is what makes it a challenge for educators and leaders.
Another influencing factor is that new graduate nurses now comprise more than 10% of a typical hospital’s nursing staff, with this number certain to grow, especially given the increasing numbers of entrants to the nurse workforce. Nearly 90% of academic leaders believe their nursing students are fully prepared to provide safe and effective care. Adversely, only 10% of hospital and health system nurse executives believe new graduate nurses are fully prepared to provide safe and effective care.
Unfortunately, straightforward “book knowledge” and technical skills are clearly important factors in developing competency, but not all employees who have the knowledge actually demonstrate and use that knowledge in their every day practice. It has been reported that “there is little or no correlation between undergraduate credentials and competency ability. Almost all RN graduates, regardless of educational preparation, are limited in their ability to meet entry expectations for safe practice.” Although their cognitive knowledge may have been exemplary, one research study found that 50% of new RN graduates did not recognize a patient with classic symptoms of a myocardial infarction.
Competency drives outcomes.
Ultimately, managing competency in a healthcare organization is essential because improvements in employee competencies improve outcomes. Employees are more satisfied when they work with competent peers. Patients are more satisfied when they perceive their care came from well-qualified and competent staff. Clinical outcomes and patient health are improved. And patient safety initiatives are uniformly understood and supported.
Consulted Sources
Cohen, Michael, What You Accept is What You Teach: Setting Standards of Employee Accountability. Creative Health Care Management: Minneapolis, MN 2006
Delbueno, Dorothy; Buyer Beware The Cost of Competence. Nursing Economic: November 2001
Wright, Donna, The Ultimate Guide to Competency Assessments in Health Care. 3rd edition. Creative Health Care Management: Minneapolis MN 2005
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 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 ProductsHealthStream’s learning management system and comprehensive suite of competency management tools empower your healthcare workforce to deliver the best patient care.
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 ProductsLearn more about HealthStream's provider credentialing, privileging, & enrollment solutions for healthcare organizations.
View All CredentialingExperience standardized and centralized healthcare provider 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 SchedulingHealthcare 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