Foster Clinical Competence Through Mental Imagery

Laurie Palmer, RN, MS, AOCN^®
Associate Professor of Nursing
Monroe Community College

Achieving academic and clinical success may, at times, feel like two mutually exclusive goals for a nursing student. Academic success can be equated with numerous hours spent reading voluminous textbooks, completing assignments, and studying for examinations. This leaves little time for anything else, especially practicing nursing skills. Yet successful psychomotor skill performance is an important component of clinical competence.

Imagery is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance skill performance. It allows for mental practice and rehearsal of novel and familiar psychomotor skills. Imagery facilitates skill performance by making movements more familiar and automatic, improves confidence, reduces stress, and helps to eliminate negative thoughts. Olympic athletes are a wonderful example of a group that has successfully enhanced their skill performance through imagery.

Nursing students also can derive benefits from imagery and enhance their clinical performance. Skill practice, through imagery, should be an important daily exercise for all nursing students. This mental rehearsal should include each of the five senses: visual, auditory, kinesthetic, tactile, and olfactory. Remember to include an emotional component to your practice. An example of how to use the components of imagery is illustrated below.

Students' busy schedules easily can accommodate a few minutes of imagery every day. It will definitely enhance your clinical skill performance. Your patients deserve it!