Deliberate Practice for Mastery Learning in Nursing

The teaching of psychomotor skills in schools of nursing and medicine has remained basically unchanged for the past 50 years despite known problems with inconsistent teaching, testing, and retention of critical foundational skills. Add to this, prolonged periods of non-use of certain skills known as retention intervals, and there is bound to be loss of skill mastery and decay. It is imperative that nursing faculty identify what skills are critically important and require concerted attention to ensure competency and retention. This manuscript provides evidence to consider deliberate practice with mastery learning as a viable alternative to skill acquisition.