Competent???

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Has anyone else been "tested" by "PBDS" or Performance Based Development Systems??? What was your experience? Very bad experience here! I've been a nurse for over 15 yrs, lots of competency exams, tests etc. This one was ridiculous--watched a 20 second video and had 7 minutes to make a MEDICAL DIAGNOSIS, decide what orders needed to be done 1st, 2nd etc what outcome was expected. There was one RIGHT answer!! No room for discussion!!! Now I'm being "remediated" for 6 weeks! Very humiliating. Has anyone else had a similiar experience??:confused:

pegg rn

11 Posts

i had to do pbds when i started at the hospital i am at now. i thought it was rediculous. i am a critical care nurse, not an md. if they want me to medically diagnose people they better pay me better!!! i did not do so well the first time i went through. i was thinking like a nurse. you know, could be this, could be that.... give me more information. you only get to see this 40sec clip and you are supposed to know what is wrong! anyway, they don't remediate you here, you just have to sit through the pbds class again. i did better the second time around, because i knew what they where looking for. my supervisor, director of critical care, didn't do much better than i did!

P_RN, ADN, RN

6,011 Posts

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Remediated? Wonder which clipboard person came up with this dingbat idea?

Check out saracorbett's post herenear the bottom of the page. We need to FILL her e-mail box.

https://allnurses.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=64715#post64715

jschut, BSN, RN

2,743 Posts

I've never even heard of such a thing! How awful! Can't you complain to someone about it?:(

ovr40

6 Posts

Complained?? Didn't you hear me from where you are? I, and everyone else who has had to take these tests, have been complaining at the top of our voices with no success. I have been told I couldn't get a job anywhere else because I didn't pass this test (by the CNO)! And when I started to cry (I can't help it, when I'm mad I cry, and I usually can't stop until I get madder!) So when I started to cry, the CNO leaned across her desk and in a VERY condescending voice asked me if I could be going through menopause. Well this made me "madder" and I quit crying, stood, apologized for taking up her valuable time and left her office. I now am meeting with the education director once a week to go over the homework she gave me from the previous week. Case Studies, scenarios etc. This will go on for 6 weeks and then---YIPPEE---I get to take the PBDS again. If I don't pass this time, then "we will worry about that when it happens" as the education director told me! The worst part of all of this is that I've lost my confidence in myself. :o I work in a small rural hospital in a 6 bed ICU. I love what I do and the other nurses I work with are great and we do a bang up job. But being told after 15 yrs a nurse and 8 yrs in critical care. That I have "limitations" and I "don't meet expectations" and making we fill out case studies that I did in the first year of nursing school is demeaning, belittling and down right humiliating. I'm afraid I may not be an effective nurse after this is over (if I am still a nurse!) I'm scared:o

the CNO leaned across her desk and in a VERY condescending voice asked me if I could be going through menopause.

File an age discrimination lawsuit!:D

oramar

5,758 Posts

Are they beating the bushes looking for ways to make the nursing shortage worse? It sure seems like they are. To ovr40, so you told the manager there was a problem and she turned it back on you and found a way to make it sound like there was something wrong with you. Gee, that sounds familiar.

Jolie, BSN

6,375 Posts

Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

I've never been through this kind of training before, and hopefully never will, but I agree that it sounds utterly ridiculous! I wonder what the State Board of Nursing would have to say about an inservice program that requires RN's to make a medical diagnosis. Is this program approved for CEU's? Good luck! I feel for you.:(

Jay Levan

154 Posts

Well Gang, this I believe is a direct result of Nurses not "Taking Control" of their profession. Our Nursing organizations

have done little meaningful work in this area either. So "Hospital based Competency Exams will thrive and be used to keep us in our "Place" below the toes of Hospital Administration:( With no QA

in place to provide equal and fair testing, this "Tool" may also be used in anyway HA wants, again to Control Nurses Any Competency Exam should be Uniform and there should be Study material provided, if not, this is a flagrant violation of our civil rights(I Believe) This type of test and time limits are a sham:( My Opinion Only! Hope some of you agree??

pegg rn

11 Posts

if your's was anything like the PBDS i did, your first guess of what is wrong is way off base from what they want. i mean the scenarios are very general. it could be one of many things wrong, and you are supposed to pull the answer out of your hind end!!!

has anyone thought about asking The State Board if this thing is kosher? last i heard making a medical diagnosis was not in an RN's scope of practice!!!:confused:

Mkue

1,827 Posts

:eek:

I'm appalled that nurses are being treated this way, what is the goal of this testing? sounds to me like this tactic could scare away a lot of want to be nurses like myself.

I agree with the above posters, this should be looked into.

P_RN, ADN, RN

6,011 Posts

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Calif. nurses assn sued Kaiser in '97...

http://www.califnurses.org/cna/kaiser/110897.htm

That's the only objection I came across. Seems like a lot of places are using this.

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