A-B Tech School of Nursing Clinical Evaluation & Competence


The student must receive a satisfactory clinical performance evaluation for all clinical components of the course. Clinical will be graded as “Satisfactory” or “Unsatisfactory”. A clinical grade of “unsatisfactory” is equivalent to a grade of “F” for the course.

The student must attend a sufficient number of clinical hours in a setting that offers the opportunity to demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and abilities for that course within the nursing program. The clinical setting will offer each student the ability to be able to satisfactorily demonstrate clinical competence. The student must be in that setting for sufficient time so that the nursing faculty may evaluate the clinical performance according to the course outcomes. If a student is not in the setting in a sufficient amount of time to be evaluated as clinically competent, the student will earn an “unsatisfactory” for clinical performance in that course. In some cases, the student may earn an “incomplete”.

Instructors have the right and responsibility to ensure safe and satisfactory behaviors in the clinical setting. The instructor will determine the appropriate consequence for any issues that arise during clinical and this may include removal from the clinical setting immediately. When student's clinical behaviors do not meet satisfactory standards, the clinical instructor will discuss with the student acceptable behavior/performance and establish a Self-Improvement Plan (SIP) or Action Plan (AP). An additional part of the SIP or AP may be a referral to the A-B Tech skills lab. The NCBON SPEET tool may be utilized in determining clinical performance consequences. If a student demonstrates clinical performance that is unsatisfactory, the student may be referred for program dismissal.