How Can a Needs Assessment Help Identify Staff Knowledge Gaps Before Building a Competency Scenario?

How can a needs assessment help identify staff knowledge gaps before building a competency scenario?

The first step in developing a scenario-based assessment is identifying objectives. One way to determine objectives is to identify the foundational evidence for deficits, incompetence, and knowledge gaps by performing a needs assessment, or gap analysis, of staff. Needs assessment surveys ask about knowledge, skills, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors related to the individual, clinical practice, and patient safety goals, which is essentially a SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) of the staff.

During this analysis, broad and specific objectives are developed to address the identified gaps and optimize what the assessment can achieve. Specific objectives measure individual learner performance; broad objectives connect to organizational and departmental development goals. Because it usually is not feasible to address every gap identified in a needs assessment, focus on what is easiest to accomplish and will have the greatest impact on patient safety, quality, and outcomes, since priorities differ by facility.

This Ask the Expert is an edited excerpt from Sara Murphy, MBA, RRT, RRT-NPS, RRT-ACCS.