Personal clinical objectives
In addition to the individual Clinical Course Assessment Methods, you are required to develop personal clinical objectives for each clinical course.
When should I write my personal objectives?
These objectives should be written in draft form, prior to commencing each clinical course. It is recommended that you discuss and further develop your draft objectives with a member of your Clinical Course Team.
On arrival at your clinical agency you should clarify your personal objectives with your facilitator/preceptor or mentor, in relation to the clinical experiences available in your placement agency. The final draft of your personal clinical objectives should be completed within the first three shifts of clinical placement and should be available for citing by a member of your Clinical Course Team, facilitator, preceptor or mentor.
Evaluation of objectives
These objectives are evaluated by you at the completion of the clinical course, in terms of the degree to which they have been achieved. You will use the grading of:
The purpose of these objectives is to enable you to develop on an individual level, depending on your learning needs, and to provide a method to encourage self evaluation.
What should my personal objectives be based on?
These are developed based on your perceived needs during your clinical course. They should be related to the clinical course objectives and to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Council (ANMC) Competency Tool. These objectives might based on:
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a personal interest in a particular facet of clinical experience
It may be that you are interested in exploring further such issues as:
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a patient and families reaction to major illness
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nursing care of a particular patient problem
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health care team integration in relation to complex care
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drug interactions in major illness
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integration of patient care between hospital, home and the community.
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an issue of clinical experience you feel you particular need to develop
This may be areas in which you perceive may be areas of personal difficulty requiring particular development such as:
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improving communication with patients, families and other health professionals
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improving manual dexterity when performing procedures
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prioritising patient needs (time management)
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clear concise report writing.
How should my personal objectives be written?
They should be written at various levels of the 'learning taxonomy', but predominantly at the level of application of theory to practice. It would not be appropriate to write objectives at the level of description or comprehension, as this is more appropriate for a theory course.
They should be realistic, achievable and measurable. This means that you should be able to achieve all of your objectives during your clinical course. As a general guide this would mean that you might have approximately five or six personal objectives. It also means that the objectives should be written in a manner that indicates when they have been achieved. As an example note the following:
Apply an effective systematic and holistic method of delivering a verbal handover of two patients, as evidenced by the feedback of Registered Nurses regarding handover comprehensiveness and holistic focus (based on ANMC competency B1, C2, C4, C5, D3, D4)
You should note that this objective is at the level of application, is specific, in that it indicates that two patients will be included in the handover, and is measurable by other health professionals.
You would be expected to write at least three (no more than six) personal objectives.
Levels of objectives
| Level of learning taxonomy |
Example of beginning word (level) |
| 1. Knowledge |
Describe |
| 2. Comprehension |
Interpret |
| Above levels are more appropriate at the commencement of a theoretical course |
| 3. Application |
Apply |
| 4. Analysis |
Differentiate |
| 5. Synthesis |
Create |
| 6. Evaluation |
Judge |
Levels of objectives : psychomotor
| Level (lowest-highest) |
Example verbs/activities |
| 1. Reflex movement |
N/A |
| 2. Basic functional movements |
N/A |
3. Perceptual abilities manipulation
(interpreting and responding to stimuli from various sense modalities) |
Follow the example of, follow lead of, follow auditory instruction, kinaesthetic adjustment, auscultate, palpate, percuss, observe, coordinate abilities |
4. Physical abilities, precision, articulation/coordination
(development of highly skilled movement, endurance, strength, flexibility, agility) |
Perform, carry out, use, handle, manipulate, carry out according to procedure |
| 5. Skilled movement naturalization |
Competent, skilled efficient performance of complex tasks |
6. Non-discursive communication
(expressive, interpretative) |
Use non-verbal communication skills, demonstrate, mime |
Levels of objectives : cognitive
| Level (lowest-highest) |
Example verbs |
| 1. Remember (knowledge) |
Identify, recognize |
| 2. Understand (comprehension) |
Interpret, illustrate, classify, summarize, infer, conclude, compare, contrast, explain |
| 3. Apply |
Carry out, implement, use |
| 4. Analyze |
Differentiate, organize, attribute, select, outline, integrate |
| 5. Evaluate |
Detect, monitor, coordinate, critique |
| 6. Create (synthesis) |
Generate, plan, design |