SMART Goals in Clinical Nursing

This article discusses the importance of setting SMART goals in clinical nursing. It explains the five components of SMART goals: specific, measurable, attainable, rewarding, and traceable. The article provides examples of SMART goals for clinical nurses and explains how to achieve them.

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My SMART goals in Clinical Nursing
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Contents
About SMART.................................................................................................................................2
S- Specific........................................................................................................................................2
M- Measurable.................................................................................................................................2
A-Attainable or Achievable.............................................................................................................3
R-Rewarding....................................................................................................................................3
T-Traceable......................................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

About SMART
Developing goals is critical in a career in clinical nursing, learning new behaviors and adjusting
with the changing scenario (Bovend'Eerdt, Botell, & Wade, 2009). There are some proven ways
such as SMART to set goals and achieve them. Three of my professional goals are represented
in SMART format.
S- Specific
A goal must be specific, have sufficient details, significant, focused, clearly defined and
stretchable. Any person who reads the goals must be able to comprehend it easily.
Goal 1: I will prepare a checklist that indicates my professional roles, activities and
responsibilities, and also roles and responsibilities that are beyond scope of my work within a
month.
Goal 2: I will learn communication skills of greeting a patient, asking questions about clients’
health, gathering critical information from the client and reporting the findings to the doctors in
three months’ time.
Goal 3: I will complete observation of temperature, pulse, blood pressure, and respiratory
assessment of 25 patients in one month.
M- Measurable
Goals that I have fixed are measurable and it can give tangible evidences of achievement (Leach,
2008). Several short term goals are also included in the measurability dimension.

Measurable 1: Within a week I will list 10 professional roles of a clinical nurse and five roles
that are beyond the scope of the job. In four weeks I will repeat this exercise until I have formed
a checklist of 40 roles and responsibilities.
Measurable 2: I will complete a course in communication skills for nurses within three months
and apply what I have learned in at least three cases
Measurable 3: I will collect routine assessments of five patients every week.
A-Attainable or Achievable
My goals are achievable because I have the opportunity to pursue my goals and are clearly
defined.
Achievable 1: I can complete the checklist as per my plan
Achievable 2: I can identify and enroll for the communication course within a week
Achievable 3: I have accessibility to the tools required for routine assessments and have the
opportunity to monitor the patients
R-Rewarding
My goals can help me to gain critical skills in nursing and get a job in a reputed health care
institution.
Reward 1: I will be clear about my roles and responsibilities and help the patients to reach their
health goals

Reward 2: I will be able to interact with clients effectively and establish rapport with clients
easily which is an important element of successful healthcare outcome.
Reward 3: Exposure to more number of patients and their routine assessments will help me to
understand a wide range of medical issues.
T-Traceable
Since the professional goals are clearly defined, assessing progress in goal achievement and the
impact it creates is easier (Dale, Drews, Dimmitt, Hildebrandt, Hittle, & Tielsch-Goddard, 2013).
Traceable 1: I can discuss the roles and responsibilities in the checklist with experts, peers and
with clients, and refine it.
Traceable 2: I can complete a short term course in communication and apply them in real
situations to identify my effectiveness.
Traceable 3: After every round of routine assessment, I can seek feedback from the experts and
review my performance. I can practice right behaviors until I master them (MacLeod, 2012).
Once goals are written, it is easy to pursue our goals and complete the activities that are planned.

References
Bovend'Eerdt, T. J., Botell, R. E., & Wade, D. T. (2009). Writing SMART rehabilitation goals
and achieving goal attainment scaling: a practical guide. Clinical rehabilitation, 23(4), 352-361.
Dale, J. C., Drews, B., Dimmitt, P., Hildebrandt, E., Hittle, K., & Tielsch-Goddard, A. (2013).
Novice to expert: The evolution of an advanced practice evaluation tool. Journal of Pediatric
Health Care, 27(3), 195-201.
Leach, M. J. (2008). Planning: a necessary step in clinical care. Journal of Clinical
Nursing, 17(13), 1728-1734.
MacLeod, L. (2012). Making SMART goals smarter. Physician executive, 38(2), 68-72.