<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

<sec><h3>Objective</h3>
<p>To ensure that only competent graduates are licensed to practice nursing, councils conduct licensing examinations, which may include among others clinical competency assessment. This review explored current practices in clinical competency assessment of nursing students as part of a larger study aimed at developing an evidence-based, context-specific framework for clinical competency assessment in a sub-Saharan African (SSA) country.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Methods</h3>
<p>A scoping guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was conducted.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Results</h3>
<p>Findings from 28 out of 1151 studies identified from Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, Wiley Online Library, and ProQuest were included and synthesized. Results show that a good assessment system must be valid, reliable, transparent, feasible, fair, objective, and must provide feedback and continually improve to have an educational impact. Clinical competency assessment systems must be developed on sound empirical evidence, pilot tested, and involve thorough training and evaluation of the examiners. Continuous evaluation of the assessment system is also essential to ensure the quality and relevance of the assessment system. Only one of the included studies was conducted in Africa.</p>
</sec>
<sec><h3>Conclusions</h3>
<p>The paucity of clinical competency assessment research in sub-Saharan Africa may lead to benchmarking assessment systems on research conducted outside the context. Sub-Saharan Africa has a set of circumstances that demand a context-specific clinical competency assessment framework to guide clinical competency assessment.</p>
</sec>
</abstract>

Objective
To ensure that only competent graduates are licensed to practice nursing, councils conduct licensing examinations, which may include among others clinical competency assessment. This review explored current practices in clinical competency assessment of nursing students as part of a larger study aimed at developing an evidence-based, context-specific framework for clinical competency assessment in a sub-Saharan African (SSA) country.

Methods
A scoping guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) was conducted.

Results
Findings from 28 out of 1151 studies identified from Scopus, PubMed, CINAHL, Wiley Online Library, and ProQuest were included and synthesized. Results show that a good assessment system must be valid, reliable, transparent, feasible, fair, objective, and must provide feedback and continually improve to have an educational impact. Clinical competency assessment systems must be developed on sound empirical evidence, pilot tested, and involve thorough training and evaluation of the examiners. Continuous evaluation of the assessment system is also essential to ensure the quality and relevance of the assessment system. Only one of the included studies was conducted in Africa.

Conclusions
The paucity of clinical competency assessment research in sub-Saharan Africa may lead to benchmarking assessment systems on research conducted outside the context. Sub-Saharan Africa has a set of circumstances that demand a context-specific clinical competency assessment framework to guide clinical competency assessment.

Clinical nursing competency assessment: a scoping review

Department of Nursing Education, School of Therapeutic Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences

University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg-Braamfontein

Frontiers of Nursing

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

{"article-title":"Clinical nursing competency assessment: a scoping review"}

Objective
To ensure that only competent graduates are licensed to practice nursing, councils conduct licensing examinations, which may include among others...

Clinical nursing competency assessment: a scoping review

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 341 - 356

Received: May 08, 2021

Accepted: Jun 07, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2021-0034

Keywords
clinical competency assessment, licensing examination, nursing, scoping review, sub-Saharan Africag

© 2021 Oboshie Anim-Boamah et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Clinical nursing competency assessment: a scoping review

Article Category: Review

Published Online: Dec 30, 2021

Page range: 341 - 356

Received: May 08, 2021

Accepted: Jun 07, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fon-2021-0034

Keywordsclinical competency assessment, licensing examination, nursing, scoping review, sub-Saharan Africag

© 2021 Oboshie Anim-Boamah et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Keywords
clinical competency assessment, licensing examination, nursing, scoping review, sub-Saharan Africag