As a nurse educator, I consider Benner’s theory fundamental for nursing and healthcare. This theory offers a framework for describing, explaining, and controlling the phenomena associated with the professional activities of nursing staff. Competence, skills, acquisition, experience, and clinical and practical knowledge are some of its key concepts. The core element of the theory is that experience, knowledge, and clinical skills must be constantly and continuously acquired, both at the theoretical and practical levels, for nursing personnel to be competent in both principles and application.
I think there are various levels of achievement in nursing, so setting fixed goals for each gives nurses a clear direction for how to proceed in their careers. Any learning process should be based on a mastery acquisition model so that each stage of training is oriented towards goals and objectives that contribute to professional development. The five stages are as follows: novice, advanced beginning, competent, proficient, and expert. Each group of competencies follows in order of priority, and the nurse will not be able to advance to the next stage without achieving the goals of the previous one. Continuous professional development is essential for nursing staff. The transition from step to step on the professional clinical ladder is accompanied by training and self-training of a specialist.
The monitoring of acquired competencies should occur on a regular basis to maintain the performance standard. This is another reason why I prefer Benner’s theory. It is possible to assess each competence stage based on the provided criteria – seven core roles of a nurse (helping, teaching, diagnostic and patient monitoring, effective management, administering therapeutic interventions, monitoring the quality of health care, and organizing). The seven core roles of a nurse offered as criteria can be used to evaluate each competency stage (diagnostic and patient monitoring, effective management, monitoring the quality of health care, administering therapeutic interventions, helping, teaching, and organizing). Detailed descriptions of each core role allow a nurse educator to evaluate a trainee’s progress objectively.