Nursing Clinical Achievement Pathway
Ephraim McDowell Health is committed to nursing professional development. Our Registered Nurse Clinical Achievement Pathway (CAP) 
program is one element of our comprehensive nursing professional career pathway.
The CAP program:
- Focuses on the advancement of nurses who have a preference for patient care and recognizes technical and clinical expertise that is beneficial to those EMH serves.
- Provides eligible registered nurses with the option to progress from the student nurse or new graduate nurse level through three higher levels of clinical registered nursing. These levels are achieved through accomplishment of defined criteria described in the Clinical Achievement Pathway Criteria Matrix such as clinical, professional growth and organizational and community involvement activities.
For more details about the CAP program:
CAP Levels
Registered nurse participation in the CAP program is voluntary.
Once you have completed orientation at EMH and have an active RN nursing license you are designated as an “RN staff nurse Associate”.
You should be capable of performing safe patient care and able to perform functions required by the registered nurse job description for the department where you are working.
The RN CAP has three levels:
- Level II Nurses
- Level II nurses have a minimum of one year of nursing experience and are capable of providing nursing care independently.
- They must have documented evidence of accomplishing a minimum of 15 Clinical Achievement Pathway Criteria Matrix points. There must be a minimum of five points for clinical care delivery, professional development and collaborative practice/community involvement.
- Level III Nurses
- Level III nurses meet all of the requirements of the RN II level.
- They are able to perform patient care independently and recognize when the patient’s clinical experience deviates from normal, and can notice subtle nuances in the patient’s clinical picture that provide a more holistic approach to nursing care.
- Level III RNs must have documented evidence of accomplishing a minimum of 20 Clinical Achievement Pathway Criteria Matrix points with a minimum of 5 points earned in the categories of clinical care delivery, professional development and collaborative practice/community involvement.
- Level IV Nurses
- Level IV nurses meet all of the requirements of the RN III level.
- They can deliver patient care in an expert manner and they use an intuitive grasp of each situation, zeroing in on the patient care problem.
- There must be documented evidence of accomplishing 30 Clinical Achievement Pathway Criteria Matrix points with a minimum of 5 points earned in the categories of clinical care delivery, professional development and collaborative practice/community involvement.
All EMH full time, part time and flex registered nurses working in clinical nursing are eligible to participate in the RN CAP program if they meet the following criteria:
- Completion of one full year of service in the role of RN staff nurse at EMH following graduation from nursing school.
- Completion of one full year of service in the role of RN staff nurse following graduation from nursing school and an additional six months of service at EMH in the RN staff nurse role.
- Free of corrective action for a full year prior to application.
The Human Resources department will screen all interested applicants to assure that these criteria are met.
CAP Application and Selection
The basics of the selection process are as follows:
- The application process is held once a year.
- Applicants will present a portfolio that contains parts of the Clinical Achievement Pathway Criteria Matrix that they already possess or plan to accomplish within a specific time period.
- Program selections will be made by the Nursing Pathway Council (five EMH registered nurses recommended by the Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital Chief Nursing Officer and the Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center Chief Nursing Officer. The EMRMC Chief Nursing Officer will authorize the final membership in partnership with the Vice President of Human Resources).
The Nursing Pathway Council will:
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- Review the CAP program applicant portfolios to ensure they meet the requirements of the desired CAP level.
- Conduct a group interview with the RN staff nurse Associate who is applying for the CAP program.
- Make recommendations for advancement in the CAP program to the Chief Nursing Officers of both EMRMC and Fort Logan Hospital.
- The Chief Nursing Officers will award the CAP designation in collaboration with the nursing director to whom the applicant reports.
The CAP policy from EMH detailed Human Resources policy document. 
Click here to download
Click here for the official CAP application form.
Frequently Asked Questions About The Clinical Achievement Pathway
Click on any of the tabs below to view the answers to the questions to the FAQ's.
A Clinical Achievement Pathway (CAP) is an Ephraim McDowell Health program that provides RNs who prefer to focus on patient care the opportunity to grow in knowledge, skill and professional development. EMH believes this opportunity will fulfill the need of RNs to grow within the nursing profession, be recognized through compensation for that growth and assure RN retention.
A: An RN selects specific items to accomplish from a matrix under three important categories: Clinical Care Delivery, Professional Development and Collaborative Practice/Community Involvement. Under each of these categories there will be a menu of options with assigned point values for completing each goal.
The CAP program has three levels of achievement, with each level requiring a specified number of points. The participant selects the goals from the menu, documenting them in a new "Profile" section of the Halogen process. Goals will be specific and include projected dates of completion. Participants will have approximately eight months to achieve the Pathway goals. Each participant will be responsible for developing a portfolio of the accomplishments to be presented to the Nursing Pathway Council prior to being selected for the CAP level.
A: No, the CAP program is designed for the RN to progress through three levels beyond the RN staff nurse Associate level. It is in line with the Benner model of "Stages of Clinical Competence" and specifically Stage 3 – Competent, Stage 4 – Proficient and Stage 5 – Expert. There are specific criteria that define the EMH levels and these will be designated as RN Level II, Level III and Level IV.
A. The concepts are very similar. The CAP program is a professional achievement program for clinical nurses who want to remain in direct patient care. It focuses on three categories of RN career growth: Clinical Care Delivery, Professional Development and Collaborative Practice/Community Involvement. A Career Pathway program is a professional development program that may include a mechanism for RN career growth into other roles besides clinical care. These may include management, education or research roles.
A: All Registered Nurses who work providing direct or bedside nursing care and who are full-time, part-time and float pool/flex and have no formal active Corrective Action currently on file, are eligible to apply for the CAP program. Nurses in management or supervisory roles or those who provide support services to patient care are not eligible to participate in the CAP program. Newly graduated nurses are eligible after one year. Experienced nurses new to EMH must complete six months of service before being eligible to apply. Experienced RNs transferring from one medical center department to a department with a different nursing specialization must reapply for the pathway level to assure she/he possesses the practice level in that nursing specialization.
A. Yes, if an Associate will have one year of service by July 1, she/he may apply for participation in the CAP program. The application must be submitted by the May 15 deadline to assure sufficient time for review.
A. Not necessarily; for the purpose of crediting L.P.N. experience, EMH has used a ratio of three years as an L.P.N. to equate to one year as an R.N. Therefore, a new R.N. with three years or more of service as an L.P.N. will be eligible to apply for participation in the Clinical Achievement Pathway immediately.
A: An application opportunity will be offered once each year. Interested and eligible applicants will present criteria that they believe are already met or will be met in the future that will validate that they meet the requirements for the CAP recognitions. Once the individual CAP level designation is awarded, the criteria accomplished must be maintained for a minimum of one year. At the completion of the year, there will be a requirement for an annual verification of that level or application for a higher level.
A: The selection process will be achieved through the efforts of a newly formed Nursing Pathway Council. The Nursing Pathway Council will review the nurse's application and conduct an interview with the Associate. The Nursing Pathway Council will be responsible for reviewing and scoring of individual CAP applications and making a recommendation to the Chief Nursing Officer of either Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center (EMRMC) or Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital. The Chief Nursing Officer of the appropriate hospital will make the final decision for selection of participants. The Chief Nursing Officers will also make the final decision for awarding a CAP level in collaboration with the appropriate nursing director.
A: The Nursing Pathway Council will consist of five members who are recommended by the Ephraim McDowell Fort Logan Hospital Chief Nursing Officer and Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center nursing directors to the EMRMC Chief Nursing Officer. The final membership in the Council will be authorized by the EMRMC Chief Nursing Officer in partnership with the Vice President of Human Resources.
A: The Certifications policy will continue as currently outlined. Nurses participating in the CAP program will actually be able to utilize a national certification in a specialty or the Clinical Educator certification to satisfy one of the options under the Professional Development category.
A: Yes, length of service is one of the options under the Clinical Care category.
A: No, if a participant transfers to a department in which a different nursing specialty is practiced, the participant will be required to re-apply for the level she/he currently possesses. This must be accomplished within a minimum of six months following the transfer.
A: Yes, just as Ephraim McDowell Health recognizes pay for individual performance through our performance based compensation system and pay for skill through additional certifications, there will also be additional pay for having acquired additional knowledge through the CAP program. The actual amount of additional compensation for each level of the process has not yet been determined but just as in the case of the certification payment, this will be reflected on the Associate's pay statement as a separate item on the income line.
A. Since the CAP level will be shown as a separate line item on the pay statement, the amount paid for that level will be removed just as in the case of certification pay that is not maintained.
Nursing at EMH