Selection for entry to a healthcare profession such as nursing or midwifery based only on cognitive abilities is no longer in line with best practice as outlined in the literature. Research indicates that using academic criteria alongside a valid, reliable and standardised interview or psychometric approach helps in the selection of students who are most academically and behaviourally able with the right professional values, and that skills and behavioural dispositions in academic, practical and professional identity are essential for students to succeed (Cleland et al 2013). In recent guidance on pre-registration education in the UK the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has stated: Professional values must underpin education as well as practice. The NMC requires students to be competent in professional values at the point of registration (NMC, 2015) and have also issued guidance on ‘enabling professionalism’ describing what professionalism looks like in every day practice through application of the Code (NMC 2017)
It is therefore clear that the NMC is placing an increasing emphasis on the non-cognitive skills of nursing and midwifery students and in addition Health Education England have been directed by government to “deliver high quality, effective, compassionate care: developing the right people with the right skills and the right values” (DoH, 2013a)
Methods:
The aim of this study was to evaluate a psychometric instrument (Nurse Match) as an approach to values based recruitment (VBR) and a potential selection method for the recruitment of Nursing and Midwifery students. The primary objective was to develop a way of systematically appraising respondents nursing values against a set of six values preferred by the nursing profession. The six values preferred by the nursing profession were (1) Person Centredness (2) Accountability (3) Trust (4) Integrity (5) Commitment to personal development (5) Teamwork. A convenience sample of 63 first year BSc( Hons) nursing students nearing the end of semester two were recruited from the School of Nursing and Midwifery Queen’s University Belfast.
A case-study approach to screening for values that required respondents to appraise themselves and relevant others using the Nurse Match instrument to explore personal use of nursing values and attributes. Ipseus software was used to record responses and report the outcome and three theoretical concepts (ISA) used to score the data. A key function of this psychometric instrument is that it does not simply record values held but assesses the significance of particular values to the respondent in terms of (a) the importance given to the value as a way of making sense of personal experience of the social world and (b) the intensity of emotional involvement with the value. The score on each value represents the combined effect.
The case study therefore involved asking the respondent to appraise self and others using twenty professional nursing values. The tool used the responses to score each value on importance and emotional significance (ISA concepts).
The twenty values were then collated into six nursing themes and a score calculated for each theme. An overall score based on the six theme scores was then used as a measure of suitability of the applicant for a career in nursing.
Results:
The choice of nursing attributes as measured using Nurse March was found to be well aligned with recently researched attributes and values. The presentation and use of the instrument worked well and most respondents engaged well and responded appropriately. The scoring process for comparing respondent profiles on nursing values discriminated effectively between nursing students with no tie scores. Descriptive statistics produced a normal distribution of scores for each of the six values with appropriate ranges, means and variances.
This study demonstrated that a psychometric instrument such as the Nurse Match instrument is capable of effectively discriminating between nursing students and rank ordering them by appraising and scoring their personal nursing values against a set of professional preferred values. Furthermore the test was found by participants to be easily understood and complete.
Conclusion:
A psychometric tool such as Nurse Match has the potential to be innovative in identifying suitable applicants to nursing in terms of their personal values and the “weight” they give them. Such an instrument would have the functionality to assess those coming to nursing from cultures with a different sense of nursing identity. In addition such an instrument also has the potential to support the development of professional values in students. The early identification of the right people with the right values means that the profession can be confident that we are getting the right people into nursing and government can be confident that resources are being invested in the right people who will continue in the profession and contribute to the future nursing workforce.