Performance Based Development System (PBDS) - Page 4

I really appreciate your input on this issue. I understand exactly where you are coming from. As of today, 2 recruiters are contacting the hospital that did this and ask why I received the ICU "competency exam" instead of the med/surg which is my background. I spoke with a large agency today, and they had just had a meeting, in which they decided to no longer send their staff to this hospital because of the problems this "wonderful" test is causing. They also said, it is NOT an indicator for how well the nurse will do. All it does is prove they can take a test. If you fail that test, you are considered "unsafe"...well heck yea I would probably be "unsafe" in a way if I walked into an ICU to work without any training. And that is another issue. The hospitals dont want to "waste" their time educating a traveler, or agency nurse. They can't see the forest for the trees. They want improvedments in patient care, and yet they cut off their nose to spite their face!
That is something I complete don't understand. If you are in the profession for the right reasons, then I would think if you have a travel nurse that comes to work in a facility on a NEED basis, that the hospital would be more than eager to help this nurse if she wants or needs to learn some things. That is the type of action that makes nursing better for everyone.
So what this boils down to is the test results stated the obvious; I failed the test because I am not (as of yet) competent to work in an ICU ( and I wasnt applying for an ICU job Grrrr). well they could have saved 150.00 and just asked me! I am competent in Med surg/tele and that is all so far!
After this ordeal, I have made a decision to NOT even consider working at a facility that uses this test to hire and fire job candidates. And apparently, agencies are trending towards this as well as nurses!

Im stating the obvious. I won't ever take that test again lolo

Vicky RN,

This is the first time I heard of the PBDS. Some of my friends in NY usually take a pharmacology/med math exam. Then,Depending on the unit he or she is given a tailored competency test. I am not sure if that the PDBS, but I will find out additional information and let know. This article was very informative and shocking at the same time. We have become a society of evidences-based practice. If research doesn't back of Del Bruno PBDS---why is it still in use???

The only things we know (and read the specific language I use): PBDS- scoring well can possibly mean you are a good nurse, but I'm sure there are nurses with poor knowledge who pass. Scoring poorly does not necessarily mean you are a bad nurse.

I can understand about ADD making this test difficult.

Hospitals are giving this test to travelers before they can work. The hospitals that would send a nurse home for doing poorly are catching on to the bad press and dismissing them passive-aggressively. Some states have the legal right to dismiss anyone for any reason--except discrimination of women or minorities. These travelers came to their city at some personal expense and time expense. Read this, Hospitals: It is unethical to send someone home based on these criteria. I would not trust my loved one in a hospital that would do this to people. The PBDS test has to be given by the hospital and they do not have permission to proctor it out to different cities. If you are going to do this, find a way to do the "right" thing and test people in other cities before they travel. It is wrong to have them travel, then dismiss them based on a test. Even if you no longer fire nurses based on this test, you will judge the person based on the test. Great foot to start off on for a nurse. Do the right thing and find a way to test in other cities.

To anyone thinking of travel: hold these hospitals to a standard. Voice a concern with testing after a nurse travels. Even if one is a poor nurse with poor knowledge, they deserve the right not to be sent home after traveling to a hospital. Education departments: you can be as militant as you want to about flushing out bad nurses..or you can have a real nurse's attitude as one who builds other people up instead of tearing them down. Be someone who shares knowledge and helps the profession rather than damaging the profession. If this test is a reliable indicator of a quality nurse, the nurses should be drilled and trained in this exact method. Otherwise, you're puffing your chest out and being vindictive. This kind of bravado has got to end in nursing, or we will always be fighting for status.