Using Video-Based Situational Assessments for Pre-Employment Nurse Screening

Purpose:
Competencies such as stress tolerance, interpersonal and teamwork skills, and nurse/patient-physician interaction skills are key success factors in every medical facility. This presentation will stress their importance and demonstrate how they can be effectively included in a nurse hiring process.

Significance:
Interpersonal competencies are critical to the nursing profession. For example, the Joint Commission Standards urges that “Safety and quality thrive in an environment that supports teamwork and respect for other people." Properly screening these skills in nurse hiring programs are critical.

Strategy and Implementation:
In a strategic partnership effort involving a large medical facility, our joint study evaluated the correlations between 19 job performance dimensions and test scores on a newly-developed video-based situational assessment designed for pre-employment nurse screening. The assessment consisted of 25, 1-3 minute videos designed to measure interpersonal skills, teamwork, patient care skills, and physician-nurse interaction skills. Of the 19 job performance dimensions included in the study, 11 were significantly predicted by the assessment with correlations ranging from .19 to .31. In addition to reviewing the successful outcomes of our study, this presentation will outline the steps that medical facilities can take to develop video-based situational assessments for the nursing profession.

Evaluation:
Hundreds of nurses were rated on 19 aspects of job performance. The same set of nurses also completed the video-based situation assessment and their job rating / assessment scores were correlated. The study resulted with 11 of the 19 job performance areas significantly predicted by the assessment.

Implications for Practice:
Medical facilities should consistently include assessments that measure interpersonal competencies in their hiring processes. Using only "credential based" hiring can leave critical skills and competencies out of the selection process and leave facilities with an unbalanced workforce.