Nurse Practitioner Student Clinical Evaluation: A Comparison of Preceptor and Faculty Scoring

Evaluating nurse practitioner students’ clinical performance is a vital and challenging role of nursing faculty. Identifying gaps in student knowledge and providing individualized feedback will enhance future clinical performance. Two methods of student evaluation were compared: preceptor clinical evaluation scores and open book exam scores. The two groups of evaluators scored student performance in an initial graduate clinical course, and the scores between evaluators were compared for the same first year course over a four year period (n= 242). For three of the four years, there was weak correlation between faculty scoring open book exams and preceptors scoring student clinical performance. One year (2015) showed a significant correlation between the two evaluation methods. The two evaluation methods provide richer data for student assessment than either method alone. Additional investigation of this potential theory/praxis gap is warranted.