The pathway and outcomes of implementing nine Competency Cards in
perioperative nursing. 

In 2013 nine Competency Cards are developed by the Danish Association for Perioperative nurses (FS SASMO). The Competency Cards
describe the theoretical knowledge, practical skills and reflection on
practice, in all areas of basic perioperative nursing.
In Denmark we do not have a national degree in perioperative nursing.
Our hope is, that the Competency Cards can be a pathway to a national perioperative nurse degree.
We wanted to examine if the Competency Cards could be at part of our
local training program and further more, raise the level of our practise
for newly employed nurses.

The implementation process was in focus for the quality project.

Management anchoring is key to the implementation process
• Knowledge sharing with a ward experienced in working with
Competency Cards
• Theoretical references and local guidelines were collected and
connected to the Competency Cards
• A study group of experienced colleagues discussed one Competency
card at a time, in monthly meetings and adjusted the cards to
our local practice
• The supervisory responsibilities were delegated for each of the
Competency Cards
• The timeframe was coordinated for the involved nurses to pass the
Competency Cards
• Ongoing knowledge sharing with the remaining group of colleagues
• Journal Club based on the Competency Cards to update evidencebased knowledge for interested collegues

Newly employed nurses experience a thorough and focused clinical
training
• Experienced nurses get the opportunity to update their evidencebased knowledge
• Quality in practice is now improved, homogeneous and evidencebased
• Feed-back from colleages who have participated in the study groups:
” It has been great to have the possibility to discuss everyday
practice in relation to theory”.
• The benefits of implementing the Competency Cards have predominantly been positive.
• The Competency Cards give us a theoretical update and words for
our practical competencies

A quality project: The pathway and outcomes of implementing nine Competency Cards in perioperative nursing