The mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through one's thoughts, experience, and senses.
Knowledge and cognitive skills: Acquired skills that reflect an individual's ability to think. Cognitive skills include verbal and spatial abilities, concentration, memory, perception, reasoning, planning and organisation, flexible thinking, and problem solving.
- Introduction
Consistent knowledge and effective cognitive skills must be demonstrated to provide safe and competent nursing care. - Description of inherent requirement
Student demonstrates:
- The capacity to locate appropriate and relevant information
- The ability to process information relevant to practice
- The ability to integrate and implement knowledge in practice.
- Justification of inherent requirement
Safe and effective delivery of nursing care is based on comprehensive knowledge that must be sourced, understood, and applied appropriately. - Adjustments
Adjustments must ensure that a clear demonstration of knowledge and cognitive skills is not compromised or impeded. - Exemplars:
- Ability to conceptualise and use appropriate knowledge in response to academic assessment items.
- Applying knowledge of policy and procedures in the clinical setting.
Literacy (language): This relates to the ability to acquire, understand, and apply information in a scholarly manner.
- Introduction
Competent literacy skills (in English) are essential to provide safe and effective delivery of care. - Description of inherent requirement
Student demonstrates:
- The ability to acquire information and accurately convey appropriate, effective messages
- The ability to read and comprehend a range of literature and information
- The capacity to understand and implement academic conventions to construct written text in a scholarly manner.
- Justification of inherent requirement
The ability to acquire information and to accurately convey messages is fundamental to ensure safe and effective assessment, treatment, and delivery of care. The ability to read, decode, interpret, and comprehend multiple sources of information is fundamental for the safe and effective delivery of nursing care. - Adjustments
Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to effectively acquire, comprehend, apply, and communicate accurate information. - Exemplars:
- Demonstrates the ability to listen to information.
- Demonstrates the ability to convey a spoken message accurately
- Demonstrates ability to paraphrase, summarise and reference in accordance with appropriate academic conventions
- Demonstrates accurate, concise, and clear nursing documentation.
Numeracy: This relates to the ability to understand and work with numbers.
- Introduction
Competent and accurate numeracy skills are essential for safe and effective care. - Description of inherent requirement
Student demonstrates the ability to interpret and correctly apply data, measurements, and numerical criteria. - Justification of inherent requirement
Competent application of numeracy skills is essential in nursing to facilitate the safe and effective delivery of nursing care. - Adjustments
Adjustments must demonstrate a capacity to interpret and apply concepts and processes appropriately in a timely, accurate and effective manner. - Exemplars:
- Performing accurate drug calculations
- Demonstrating accurate recording on a fluid balance chart.