Chapter 15

• Evaluation


  A process of ascertaining or judging the value of something through careful appraisal
• Evaluation


  A means of helping an individual or group of individuals to be self-directing
• Evaluation


  Assists in the establishment of specific goals and objectives, which in turn serve as criteria for judging desirable changes
• Evaluation is done every day
• Evaluation


  The way through which an individual expresses her likes and dislikes, and by it, she determines what is of value and what is not
• Evaluation


  Involves measurement or appraisal of an activity in terms of a particular standard
• Evaluation


  Involves a continuous process of gathering data and recording, assembling and interpreting information for purposes of creating change that will promote better performance or accomplish desired objectives
• Evaluation in nursing


  Requires assessment of the cognitive outcomes of knowledge and understanding, a delineation of what is and what shall be
• Evaluation in nursing


  Requires evaluation of student's personal traits, since nursing is a personal service, one in which interpersonal relationships are important and personality plays a vital role in establishing effective relationships with patients
• Evaluation


  Uses skills for appraisal purposes to determine one's strengths and weaknesses and how far a nurse performs efficiently and effectively to meet desired goals and objectives of care
• The first principle of evaluation is that anything that exists at all exists in some amount and therefore can be measured
• The second principle of evaluation is that the worth or value of a teaching method, a learning method and materials of instruction is not known until their effect is measured
• Assessing learning


  A formative feedback that is done to find out what and how well patients are learning, what a nurse is teaching without giving a grade
• Evaluating


  A process of measuring the extent of learning and assigning a grade
• Functions of educational evaluation

  • Improve educational program
  • Achieve educational goals
  • Motivate and guide the learning activities of the individual learners
  • Motivate the teacher to evaluate critically her teaching practices, the student's learning effectiveness and her own, personal goals
  • Motivate the teacher to work together for the improvement of the curriculum and the educational program
• Purposes of evaluation in nursing education

  • Determine the level of knowledge and understanding of the student in her classes at various times during the semester
  • Determine the level of the student's clinical performance at various stages
  • Awareness of the specific difficulties of individual students, or of an entire class, as a basis for further teaching
  • Diagnose each student's strengths and weaknesses and to suggest remedial measures which may be needed
  • Encourage students' learning by measuring their achievement and informing them of their success
  • Help students acquire the attitude, and skills in self-evaluation
  • Help students become increasingly self-directing in their study
  • Provide the additional motivation for examinations that offer opportunity to practice critical thinking, the application of principles, the making of judgments
  • Estimate the effectiveness of teaching and learning techniques of subject matter and of instructional media in reaching goals and objectives of the course
  • Gather information needed for administrative purposes, such as selecting students for honors, courses, placement of bank of students for advanced standing, writing recommendation, meeting graduation requirements
• The evaluation program should reflect the educational objectives, teaching and learning procedures, student progress, and learning outcomes
• Criteria for selection of evaluative devices

  • Sampling of the objectives
  • Sampling of the content
  • Validity
  • Reliability
  • Practicality
  • Usefulness
• Steps in evaluation


  1. State objectives

  2. Define changes in behavior as expected of the educational outcomes

  3. List and briefly describe situations that give opportunity for the expression of desired behavior of the learner

  4. Develop appropriate and systematic means of eliciting kinds of behavior implied in objectives to be evaluated

  5. Decide on ways of recording and summarizing behavior such as scoring, rating, or describing behavior and the basis for evidence collected

  6. Check validity, reliability, and difficulty of the measures used

  7. Establish conditions that permit the student to give her best performance

  8. Assign scores on the basis of the foregoing steps

  9. Develop methods of interpretation
• Evaluative devices


  • Essay examinations
  • Objective examinations
  • Objective problem-situation test
  • Standardized tests
  • Rating scales
• Essay examinations


  Subjective type of evaluation in which students are given questions requiring critical analysis of situations based on concepts or principles learned
• Objective examinations


  Consist of a large number of questions and statements where students' answers are indicated by marking the correct response to a particular question in a prescribed manner
• Types of objective examinations

  • Multiple choice questions
  • True or false questions
  • Matching questions
• Objective problem-situation test


  Describes a situation, not previously presented to the student with sufficient detail to point out the problem involved
• Advantages of objective problem-situation tests

  • Used to represent patterns of behavior that constitute nursing competence
  • Less time consuming for the student to answer
  • Useful to determine the students' ability to apply principles to new or related situations
  • Can analyze easily the type of errors made by students in the use of basic principles and concepts
• Disadvantages of objective problem-situation tests

  • Time consuming to prepare
  • Requires great skill to prepare valid, reliable problem-situations
  • Requires considerably more space than objective tests
• Types of standardized tests


  • Intelligence tests
  • Prognostic tests
  • Achievement tests
• Rating scales


  A standardized method of recording interpretations of behavior where students are rated on a scale from low to high with respect to a particular or specific unit
• Techniques for evaluating patient learning

  • Ask the patient to read pamphlets or brochures and fact sheets summarizing what the nurse have taught and repeat important information
  • Interview patients with thorough observation, discussion and gesturing to elicit adequate response and understanding of the information taught
  • Determine change of patient behavior related to health care practices
  • Do a return demonstration to determine skills learned and collect evidence of teaching effectiveness
  • Document the teaching information and evidences of what the patient has learned
• Marguerite Lucy Mafreda: 'To evaluate a successful or unsuccessful approach (with a patient) take into account the general aim of the situation. Did it seem satisfactory? Was cooperation easily established? Did the results appear good? Did you have an inner feeling that things went smoothly? If you think it may have been unsatisfactory look at yourself...'
• To determine what clients have learned is a gauge of teaching effectiveness of the nurse which requires expertise in terms of knowledge, skills, and professional attitude
• Criteria to determine effectiveness of student learning

  • Major elements and sub-elements concerning the rating
  • The relative importance of each element
  • The range of scale used
  • Test blueprint
• Marguerite Lucy Mafreda: 'approach (with a patient) take into account the general aim of the situation. Did it seem satisfactory? Was cooperation easily established? Did the results appear good? Did you have an inner feeling that things went smoothly? If you think it may have been unsatisfactory look at yourself...'
• To determine what clients have learned is a gauge of teaching effectiveness of the nurse which requires expertise in terms of knowledge, skills, and professional attitude.
• Teachers are required to evaluate student's work as well as performance in tests. Judgments and ratings must consist of oral reports, term papers, and book reports, among others.
• Criteria to determine effectiveness of student learning

  • Major elements and sub-elements concerning the rating
  • The relative importance of each element
  • The range of scale used
  • Test blueprint. A chart that spells all the contents about the level of knowledge to be tested
• The teacher is key to the choice of evaluation method that guide the processes of instruction and assessment of outcomes. Students are important part of the evaluation process and should be part of the planning process.
• Formative process evaluation


  Measures or evaluates the processes and progress, along with the goal and objective, the level of students' learning and progress of the educational program. It is the on-going feedback given to the learners throughout the learning process.
• Formative evaluation


  • Course evaluation, student achievement, satisfaction index
• Frances Reiter: 'Practice is the absolute primary function of our profession.'