Evaluating Clinical Judgment in Licensure Tests: Applications of Decision Theory

• In Event: 61.086 - Roundtable Session 21
  In Roundtable Session: 61.086-17 - Issues in Validity and Licensure Testing Across the Professions

Abstract

Clinicians and other professionals make judgments as a fundamental part of daily work. This makes assessment of decision-making ability an important domain of evaluation in licensure exams. Describing decision-making using a process model allows specification of the mental components involved in decision-making and the interactions between them. The steps in the process include cue recognition, generation of hypotheses, evaluation of hypotheses, action, and evaluation of outcomes. Using a process model provides an opportunity for the subcomponents to be assessed and measured both independently and in concert and for lapses in decision-making to be isolated. The current proposal discusses steps a licensure program can take to begin exploring methods that evaluate candidates' decision-making ability, with an application in clinical judgment.

Authors

• William Joseph Muntean, Pearson

• Marie Lindsay, Pearson Assessment & Information

• Joseph Betts, Pearson VUE

• Ada Woo, National Council of State Boards of Nursing

• Doyoung Kim, National Council of State Boards of Nursing

• Philip Dickison, National Council of State Boards of Nursing