Nursing. The aim of this assignment is to explore issues surrounding the concept of competence and how this relates to with reflective practice.

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Professions such as medicine, nursing, dentistry and architecture are regulated by State legislation primarily because they have a potential to cause harm to the community. These professions have their own regulatory bodies. For nursing in the United Kingdom, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) has a legal responsibility for setting standards of preparation for admission to the profession. The NMC is tasked to ensure that its members maintain competence to ensure the safety of the public in its dealings. Formal training provides the technical knowledge needed to provide competent care in the care giving setting, but formal training also can be seen as only the beginning point of building competence.  Experience and reflection on that experience are critical factors. The aim of this assignment is to explore issues surrounding the concept of competence and how this relates to with reflective practice.

Alspach (1984) defines competence as a simultaneous integration of the knowledge, skills and attitudes required for the performance in a designated role or setting.  The Further Education Unit (cited in Fearon, 1998) competence as the possession and development of sufficient skills, knowledge, appropriate attitudes and experience for successful performance in life roles. These contrast greatly with the approach to education that is aimed at primarily gaining one performance. The competency-based assessment can give direction to both the experienced and less experienced nurse so that safe, effective skills, utilising professional knowledge.

Carper (1978) identified four types of knowledge: aesthetic, empirical, personal (including experience and intuition) and ethical. No single form of knowledge is more superior or inferior to any other or should they be judged against each other. Aesthetic knowledge helps understand the human experience and insights into human condition, the lived experience of an illness whilst empirical includes evidence-based practices. Personal encompasses both that knowledge acquired through practice, experienced by self (experiential) and intuition (the gut feeling.

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A review of literature by the author has recognized three approaches to competence and its assessment. The behaviourist or performance-based, focus is on what one can do but not what they know. It portrays a mechanistic approach to gaining knowledge with no rationale of interventions taken. The generic approach defined by McClelland 1973 (cited in McMullan, Endacott, Gray, Jasper, Miller, Scholes & Webb, 2003) as broad clusters of abilities, which are conceptually linked as attributes of expert performance. The flaw of this approach is that the underlying attributes can be used in any situation. The holistic approach defines competence ...

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