Do contemporary patient assessment requirements align with expert nursing practice?

Objective: This paper discusses contemporary patient assessment requirements and how they articulate with expert nursing practice. Background: Contemporary patient assessment requirements are intended to standardise the conduct, collection and documentation of patient needs and risks. Current assessment requirements are designed to be applied uniformly for both expert and novice nurses' alike to ensure consistency in the process and documentation of assessment. The requirements for patient assessment have grown in complexity over time but there is a paucity of evidence that considers how those requirements impact the work of expert nurses.Discussion: This discussion paper reflects on individual aspects of these issues such as how experts develop their practice, the elements of assessment requirements, how and why assessment requirements have changed over time.Expert nurses develop practice over time that is shaped by exposure to a wide range of clinical scenarios and learning experiences. Expert practice is partly defined by an ability to quickly identify key elements of a patient's condition based on past experiences where the expert has learnt to recognise and predict patterns of care needs.