Your annual evaluation is coming up, and you’ve reached the section asking for professional goals. Maybe you know exactly what you want to work on. Or maybe you just finished three shifts and want someone to explain what belongs in that little box.
Below are examples of nursing goals for yearly evaluations that you can adapt to your role. We’ll cover communication, time management, clinical skills, precepting, and leadership, along with how to make your goal specific enough to track. And please hear me on this: you can write a meaningful goal without signing up for another degree or volunteering for every committee on the unit. Getting better at the job you already have is a worthwhile goal.
Examples of Nursing Goals for Yearly Evaluations
Use these examples as starting points. Adjust the deadlines, training requirements, and expectations to fit your unit and your facility’s evaluation process.
You don’t need to choose something from every category. Start with the number of goals your employer requests, and pick areas that would actually help you in your day-to-day work.
Communication and Giving Report
“Improve my communication” is a reasonable starting point, but it’s hard to know when you’ve accomplished it. Think about which conversation you want to handle better.
Is your report hard to follow? Do you struggle to explain your concern when calling a provider? Are you uncomfortable speaking up during rounds?
➡️ Example goal: Give a more organized handoff
Over the next three months, I will consistently use my unit’s handoff format and ask an experienced nurse for feedback on three reports. I will use that feedback to identify and address recurring gaps in my handoff.
The point is to make the important information easier for the next nurse to find. A longer report doesn’t automatically mean a better report.
(If giving report is something you want to work on, my free mini-course, Master Nursing Report in Just 3 Days, can help you get started.)
➡️ Example goal: Strengthen communication with providers
Within the next six months, I will review my unit’s expectations for communicating concerns to providers and practice three scenarios with my educator using our approved communication framework. I will use their feedback to improve how I explain my concern and the response I am requesting.
This gives you something concrete to practice. “Feel more confident calling the doctor” may be what you want, but the goal should describe what you’ll do to build that confidence.
Time Management and Documentation
These goals can be useful whether you’re a new nurse or have been doing this for years. A different patient population, a new charting system, or a change in responsibilities can throw off a routine that used to work well.
➡️ Example goal: Improve shift organization
During the next three months, I will identify two recurring obstacles in my shift routine, discuss possible changes with an experienced nurse, and trial those changes over six shifts. I will review what helped and what still needs adjustment with my manager or educator.
Choose something specific enough to troubleshoot. Maybe you’re making repeated trips for supplies, struggling to organize your work after report, or waiting too long to ask for help.
➡️ Example goal: Make documentation more efficient
Within six months, I will review documentation expectations with my educator, identify two ways to improve my charting workflow, and apply them over four weeks. I will then meet with my educator to review my progress and any remaining barriers.
Be careful about promising that you’ll never stay late again. You can work on your own habits, but you can’t guarantee what every shift will look like. If workload or staffing is contributing to the problem, that belongs in the discussion too.
Clinical Skills and Specialty Knowledge
Start with something relevant to the patients you actually care for. What do you encounter often enough that getting better at it would make a difference?
➡️ Example goal: Develop a specific clinical skill
Within six months, I will complete the facility-approved education and supervised practice required for [skill], then complete the competency validation with an approved evaluator.
Before submitting this one, check that the training is available and that you’ll have opportunities to practice. Your educator may need to help arrange them.
➡️ Example goal: Strengthen knowledge of a common patient population
By my next annual evaluation, I will complete two educational activities related to [patient population or condition commonly seen on my unit] and discuss one relevant takeaway from each with my educator, including how it fits our current policies and practice.
You don’t have to choose the most complicated topic on the unit. A better understanding of something you see every week can be incredibly useful.
➡️ Example goal: Prepare for specialty certification
Within three months, I will review the eligibility requirements for [specialty certification] and create a study plan. If I meet the requirements, I will complete my planned preparation and sit for the exam before my next annual evaluation.
Ask about exam reimbursement, review resources, and any certification benefits your employer offers. It’s helpful to know what support is available before paying for everything yourself.
Precepting and Supporting New Nurses
If you want to precept, your evaluation is a good time to bring it up. It’s also the time to ask what preparation you’ll receive. Being comfortable with your own assignment doesn’t mean you automatically know how to teach someone else to manage theirs.
➡️ Example goal: Prepare to become a preceptor
Within six months, I will meet with my manager to discuss preceptor readiness, complete the required preceptor training, and develop a plan with my educator for supporting my first orientee when an assignment becomes available.
That last part matters. You can complete the preparation, but you don’t control when the unit hires someone or who gets assigned to precept them.
Considering precepting this year? My course, Preceptor Pro, covers setting realistic expectations, teaching during a shift, and giving feedback that helps your orientee improve. If this fits your evaluation goal, ask your manager whether your unit can cover the course as part of your preparation.
➡️ Example goal: Improve your feedback as a current preceptor
During my next orientation assignment this year, I will use our unit’s evaluation process to give my orientee specific feedback each week, including what is going well and a clear next step. I will check in with the educator monthly to review progress and adjust my approach.
“Doing great!” feels nice to hear, but it leaves a new nurse guessing about what they should keep doing. Useful feedback names the behavior and helps them understand what comes next.
Leadership and Professional Development
These goals make sense if you want additional responsibilities and have the capacity to take them on. You don’t need to choose one simply because you’ve been a nurse for a certain number of years.
➡️ Example goal: Explore becoming a charge nurse
Within the next three months, I will discuss charge nurse readiness with my manager and review the role’s expectations. If we agree that it is an appropriate next step, I will complete the available training and supervised orientation within the following six months.
Find out what the role involves on your unit before committing to it. Ask about support, assignments, scheduling, and how readiness is evaluated.
➡️ Example goal: Contribute to a unit improvement
Within three months, I will bring one recurring workflow concern and a proposed improvement to my manager or unit council. If approved, I will participate in a small trial and help review the results before my next annual evaluation.
Keep the scope manageable. Improving one frustrating process can be more useful than promising to solve a unit-wide problem you don’t have the authority or resources to change.
➡️ Example goal: Work toward clinical ladder advancement
Within two months, I will review the clinical ladder requirements with my manager, identify which criteria I already meet, and create a plan for the remaining requirements. I will submit my application by the agreed deadline during this evaluation year.
Check the requirements first. You may already be doing work that counts, and you’ll want to know which activities require documentation before you start.
Watch: Choosing Goals for Nursing Evaluations
How to Write a SMART Nursing Goal
The easiest way to do this is to write them in the SMART goal format. This can prevent your manager from asking you to rewrite anything or clarify it, and it will honestly impress them.
SMART goals are a framework for setting clear, achievable objectives. This method ensures that goals are:
- Specific 🎯 Goals should be clear and specific.
- Measurable 📏 Goals must have criteria for measuring progress and success. This makes it so you can clearly state if the goal was achieved. Let’s say you’re precepting a new nurse.
- Measurable doesn’t always mean a percentage. Completing a competency, obtaining feedback, or submitting an application can give you a clear way to assess progress. You don’t need to invent a number just to make the goal sound official.
- Achievable 🏅 While goals should be challenging, they must also be attainable given the available resources, knowledge, and time. It must be reasonable and doable, but not so small that it takes little effort. Reasonable goals increase motivation.
- Relevant 💡 Goals should be relevant to the direction you want your nursing career to take. They should align with your current role and aspirations.
- Not great ➡️ (Let’s say you work in a PACU) I will take a course to learn more about labor and delivery nursing and postpartum support because I’ve always wanted to work on that unit, OR I will go back to school to get my Master’s in Professional Counseling.
- Much better ➡️ I will train 2-3 new graduate nurses in the PACU over the next year.
- Tip: You may have career aspirations that extend beyond your current role. That’s great! However, remember the context of this conversation. This isn’t about overall life goals; this is about goals related to this specific nursing job that you have right now. Keep those broader and personal goals for your private pursuits.
- Time-bound ⏰ Every goal needs a target date so that there is a deadline to focus on and something to work toward.
Your goals for nursing evaluations don’t need to be 10/10 perfect, so don’t stress on flawless wording. What matters is that it’s something that you can work towards, check progress, maintain motivation, and know whether or not you achieved it.
Let’s say we’ve got two new nurses on a unit, and we want them to be successful. We give them each a set of goals and reassess after three weeks.
Nurse #1’s goals are to:
- Get better at giving meds
- Feel confident working with doctors
- Delegate well
- Have good documentation
Nurse #2’s goals are to:
- Give all 0900 meds by 1000 daily and all time-sensitive meds within 30 minutes of due time unless an urgent situation occurs.
- Notify the medical team within the designated acceptable time frame (example: 15 minutes) when necessary; document communication correctly.
- Identify which tasks during morning med pass/assessments can be delegated to CNAs and promptly do so, checking with the preceptor if unsure. Note if able to complete morning tasks earlier when appropriate delegation occurred.
- Document full head-to-toe assessments of entire patient assignments without needing correction from the preceptor for all three shifts during a week.
Which nurse do you think will maintain motivation and know how they are doing (which decreases anxiety)?
Choose a Goal You Can Actually Influence
Before you put a goal on your evaluation, ask yourself how much of the outcome is within your control. For example, a preceptor can work on giving timely feedback, communicating concerns, and adjusting teaching strategies. They can’t guarantee that a new nurse will stay on the unit for two years.
Similarly, you can prepare for a charge nurse role, but you can’t create a vacancy or approve your own training.
When a goal depends on someone else, make that dependency part of the conversation. Agree on what you’ll do, what support is needed, and how you’ll adjust if the opportunity isn’t available. The same applies to clinical goals. Use your facility’s policies, approved education, and competency process to guide expectations. A goal copied from a website still needs to make sense for your role and patient population.
What If You Just Want to Get Better at Your Current Job?
That is a completely reasonable direction. You can focus on giving clearer report, strengthening your knowledge of a common diagnosis, improving documentation, or handling difficult conversations more effectively.
You don’t have to become a charge nurse, preceptor, committee representative, or graduate student to keep developing professionally. If you’re already stretched thin, choose a manageable improvement that fits into work you’re already doing. Be honest with your manager about the time and support it will require. A goal that you can follow through on is more useful than an impressive paragraph you won’t look at again until next year.
Why Nurse Managers Want You to Have Goals
You may notice that every year during your performance evaluation, your nurse manager wants to know your professional goals. You may feel like you’re barely surviving each shift, suffering from burnout, or are not in the mindset to create clear goals. This is understandable, but let’s get into the mindset of your boss.
Leadership wants nurses to provide quality patient care. However, once you get deep into the groove of nursing, your shifts can become predictable and monotonous. Humans naturally want to be challenged. When people are challenged, they’re more engaged and ultimately more satisfied. Having easy days here and there are necessary to balance out the intensity of being nurse, but if they are all that way, people tend to checkout mentally.
Clear goals challenge people to improve and grow. And with a profession like nurse, which evolves at a rapid pace along with medical advancements, complacency has the potential to negatively impact patient harm. We want clinicians who are engaged, care about becoming better, and learning about new and better ways to do things.
There is also an aspect of accountability. When employees set their own goals, they take ownership of their performance and outcomes. This sense of accountability drives them to take initiative and be more engaged with their work.
Employees with clear goals have direction and, therefore, better job satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment. This can be really helpful in nursing when you deal with patients or other healthcare team members who do not appreciate your hard work and dedication. It enables you to have agency and autonomy over your achievements because the reaction of someone else does not determine their value. They are for you.
Goals also help your manager identify very specific ways to help you. If they know what you want to do, they can help facilitate that. For example, if one of your goals for nursing evaluations is to get a specialty certification, they may know of helpful review programs or reimbursement through the hospital.
Additional Examples of Nursing Goals For Yearly Evaluations – By Experience Level
Let’s go through examples that would be appropriate for different levels of development for nurses during a yearly evaluation with leadership. However, keep in mind that the experience level isn’t an eligibility requirement.
Examples of Goals For Nursing Evaluations – Novice New Grad Nurse
Some of these goals are appropriate for week-to-week goal setting with a preceptor, while others might work more for a yearly evaluation with a nurse manager.
- I will obtain my ACLS certification within the next six months.
- I will increase my competency with IV insertion skills by increasing my first-attempt success rate from 50% to 80% by taking an online course and spending time in the one-day surgery center to have more attempts for four hours within the next 60 days.
- I will research schools to complete my BSN and submit 2-3 applications by March 15th.
- I will successfully manage my time at the beginning of each shift to attend 1000 interdisciplinary rounds on time for the next two weeks.
- I will successfully document care plans and patient education by 1500 for the next three shifts.
Examples of Goals For Nursing Evaluations – Advanced Beginner Nurse
- I will take the hospital precepting certification course and precept a new nurse within the next six months.
- I will perform a literature review of current best practices for central line management and present my findings at the staff meeting next month.
- I will attend an online or virtual nursing conference and prepare a presentation to share at a staff meeting within the next nine months.
- I will cross-train to float to our sister unit within the next six months.
- I will improve my efficiency with documentation by performing chart audits to identify what is necessary and unnecessary to chart and shadow two highly efficient RNs to identify areas of improvement. My goal is to no longer stay late to document and be able to clock out on time each shift unless extenuating circumstances occur.
Examples of Goals For Nursing Evaluations – Proficient Nurse
- I will take the CRRT training course next month and successfully care for CRRT patients on a regular basis in three months.
- I will become the unit representative of shared governance and attend monthly facility meetings to share updates at monthly staff meetings. I will attend my first meeting this month and plan to serve on the committee for one year.
- I will train to be a charge nurse in the next six weeks and begin being the charge nurse for one shift per week.
- I will sign up for the hospital mentoring program this week and meet with a new nurse every 1-2 weeks during their orientation.
- I will sign up for a CCRN review course and establish a study plan within the next two weeks, and take the CCRN exam.
- I will submit my application to level up on the clinical ladder in six months.
Examples of Goals For Nursing Evaluations – Expert Nurse
- I will finalize which MSN program I would like to complete and submit my application within the next four weeks.
- I will submit my application to level up on the clinical ladder in the next six months.
- I will train to be a back-up charge nurse on our sister unit by the of Q2.
- I will complete a research project with the assistance of the facility nurse research scientist based on a specific need of the unit after I complete a survey to identify this need. The project will be complete within the next nine months and after, I will present my findings at a staff meeting and submit it to be considered for a national conference.
Ask Your Manager for the Support You Need
Your evaluation is an opportunity to discuss what will help you accomplish the goal.
Depending on what you choose, you might ask:
- Is there paid time available for this training?
- Does the unit have a budget for the course or certification exam?
- Who can supervise my practice or validate the competency?
- Can we arrange a shadowing opportunity?
- When should we check in about progress?
If you’re unsure how to bring it up, try:
“I’d like to work toward this goal this year. Can we talk about what training, time, or approval I’ll need to make it realistic?”
Once you’ve agreed on the goal, save a copy somewhere you can find it and set a reminder to revisit it. Keep track of completed education, feedback, and other evidence your employer requires as you go.
Next year, when that same little box appears on your evaluation, you’ll have something concrete to put in it.
More Resources for Goals for Nursing Evaluations
- Critical Care Nursing Certification: How to Pass the CCRN Exam
- Tips for New Nurse Preceptors
- Tips for New Charge Nurses
FAQs on Goals for Nursing Evaluations
What are good nursing evaluation comments?
Clinical Skills and Patient Care: “Demonstrates a high level of clinical competence and consistently provides compassionate patient care. Effectively uses clinical judgment to ensure positive patient outcomes.”
Professional Development: “Actively seeks opportunities for professional growth and development. Has completed [specific number] of continuing education hours this year, enhancing their nursing practice and patient care skills.”
Teamwork and Collaboration: “Exemplifies outstanding teamwork, always willing to assist colleagues and contribute to a positive working environment. Collaborates effectively with interdisciplinary team members to ensure comprehensive patient care.”
Communication Skills: “Maintains clear and effective communication with patients, families, and healthcare team members. Exceptionally skilled at educating patients and their families about complex health conditions in an understandable manner.”
Initiative and Leadership: “Regularly demonstrates initiative by identifying areas for improvement and leading efforts to enhance care delivery. Has successfully led a quality improvement project that resulted in [specific outcome], showcasing leadership capabilities.”
Adaptability and Problem-Solving: “Shows remarkable adaptability in the face of changing circumstances and challenges. Utilizes critical thinking skills to solve problems creatively and effectively, ensuring patient safety and quality care.”
Reliability and Professionalism: “Consistently reliable in completing assigned tasks and responsibilities. Upholds professional standards and ethics in all interactions, serving as a role model for peers.”
What are concerning things to hear in a nursing evaluation?
Not all evaluations will be positive. As a professional, when you go into an evaluation, know that it’s not a time to get a high-five or pat on the back. You should expect some feedback on how you can get better. Please don’t take ways you can improve as personal attacks. While there are people in leadership positions that take advantage of that power dynamic, it’s not everyone. Here are some things you could possibly hear in a professional evaluation so that you can improve, plus the translation of the way they are often said with more corporate messaging.
“Needs improvement in time management”
This may mean ➡️ You’re struggling to complete your tasks efficiently within your shift. You might take too long on certain tasks, which could delay care for other patients or make it so you’re consistently clocking out late.
“Could benefit from further development in clinical skills”
This may mean ➡️ Your practical nursing skills aren’t as strong as they should be. This might mean you need more practice or training in specific areas like wound care, IV insertions, or medication administration. This will help you become safer and more efficient.
“Encouraged to enhance communication with team members”
This may mean ➡️ You’re not communicating well enough with other nurses, doctors, or healthcare staff. This could be about not sharing important patient information, not asking for help when needed, or not contributing to team discussions. They need to know what you’re doing and thinking, so reflect on how you speak to others and the disconnect between what you mean and what they hear. Lack of follow-up is a common communication issue.
“Advised to focus on detail and accuracy in documentation”
This may mean ➡️ There are mistakes or omissions in your patient charts and reports. Accurate documentation is crucial in nursing for patient safety and legal reasons.
“Recommended to engage more with continuous education and training opportunities”
This may mean ➡️ You’re not keeping up with new nursing practices, knowledge, or skills that could improve your work. Engaging in learning and training is essential for growth and maintaining high standards of care. Consider precepting, which enables you to revisit policies and protocols that have been updated since you were last aware.
“Suggested to work on adapting to change and stressful situations”
This may mean ➡️ You may struggle to handle unexpected changes in the work environment or get easily stressed by challenging situations. This can impact your ability to provide care. Your manager may suggest talking with EAP to develop coping strategies.
“Observation of professional boundaries could be improved”
This may mean ➡️ You may be getting too personally involved with patients or colleagues, which can affect objectivity and professional relationships. This can enhance feelings of overwhelm and burnout.
These comments are typically meant to highlight areas for development constructively. They aim to encourage the nurse to reflect on their practice, seek guidance, and take specific actions to enhance their skills and professional conduct.
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