Stages of Nursing Expertise

• Novice


  No experience (student nurse)
• Advanced Beginner


  Demonstrates marginally acceptable performance; Recognizes meaningful “aspects” of a real situation
• Advanced Beginner


  Experienced enough real situations to make judgments about them
• Competent


  2-3 years of experience
• Competent


  Demonstrates organizational and planning abilities 
• Competent


  Differentiates important factors from less important aspects of care
• Competent


  Coordinates multiple complex care demands
• Proficient


  3-5 years of experience
• Proficient


  Perceives situations as a whole rather than in terms of parts
• Proficient


  Uses maxims as guides for what to consider in a situation
• Proficient


  Has holistic understanding of the client, which improves decision making; Focuses on long term goal
• Expert


  No longer requires rules, guidelines, or maxims to connect an understanding of the situations to appropriate actions
• Expert


  Performance is fluid, flexible, and highly proficient
• Expert


  Inclined to take a certain action because “it felt right”
• STAGE III (Competent)

  2-3 years of experience
• STAGE IV (Proficient)

  3-5 years of experience