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Book Review
The Practitioner as Assessor
Sue Howard and Anne Eaton
ISBN: 978-0-702026-60-7 2003 136 pages Baillière Tindall, London
Renée Rendell
Senior Staff Nurse, Angiography, Cromwell Hospital,
London, United Kingdom
Howard and Eaton's book, The Practitioner as Assessor contains useful strategies to enable clinicians to unravel issues and processes involved in the assessment of people in practice. Recently published in May 2003, The Practitioner as Assessor by Howard and Eaton is aimed at assessors, mentors, students and other health care professionals involved in the assessment of students and/or nurses in practice. Up to date and highly practical this book is useful for practitioners about to embark on a new role of mentor/assessor or equally useful for practitioners who just want to learn more about the assessment of individuals in practice and the assessor-assessed relationship.
Significantly, the authors enhance and lend credibility to their publication given their extensive experience at a grassroots level.
Aimed at mentors, assessors and other health care professionals, this book covers the following: national nursing strategies and their impact on practice, the move to a competency based curriculum: 'fitness to practice', assessment in practice, assessment: Scottish and national qualifications and national occupational standards, assessment: nursing programmes and assessment. While there are other books available on the process of assessment in nursing practice, this book focuses on the principles involved in the assessment of practice thus providing a valuable resource guide for any practitioner embarking on or developing their assessment technique.
The first two chapters of this book reviews government strategies responsible for changing the focus of nurse education in the United Kingdom to a competency-based framework to help ensure nursing continues to deliver quality care through use of experienced mentors/assessors in the process.
The second area (chapters 3-6) focuses on the assessment process and provides the reader with a 'how to' and 'why' guide. Briefly covering the underlying theories of teaching and learning the authors discuss how particular theories are integral to the principles of assessment. Examining the assessment process in depth (activity boxes are included to facilitate understanding) this book outlines the different types and methods of assessment concentrating on the role and responsibility of assessors/mentors to ensure clinical safety and competence.
Unlike other books on assessment predominately analyse the relationship between assessing theory and practice, the authors deliver a user friendly resource for practitioners on the assessment process, focusing on outcomes and competencies to ensure nurses are fit to practice. This is emphasised by the inclusion of activity boxes in each section, which allows the reader ample opportunity for reflection to consolidate content and apply it to their workplace.
In summary, this book would best serve a British audience due to a large amount of text being specific to the health care strategies and nurse education processes of the 4 British countries of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. However, despite this much material is provided in a generic format, which could benefit a wider international audience. Containing evidence supported by a variety of valid referenced sources about the underlying principles of mentorship and assessment, I recommend this book to support assessors in their future endeavours.
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