Benner’s model (2001) describes five levels of proficiency in nursing based on the Dreyfus general model of skill acquisition.

The
five stages, which have implications for teaching and learning, are novice, advanced beginner, competent, proficient, and expert.
Benner writes that experience is essential for the development of professional expertise (see Box 1–3).

BOX 1–3 Benner’s Stages of Nursing Expertise

STAGE I: NOVICE-No experience (e.g., nursing student). Performance is limited, inflexible, and governed by context-free
rules and regulations rather than experience.
STAGE II: ADVANCED BEGINNER-Demonstrates marginally acceptable performance. Recognizes the meaningful “aspects”
of a real situation. Has experienced enough real situations to make judgments about them.
STAGE III: COMPETENT-Has 2 or 3 years of experience. Demonstrates organizational and planning abilities. Differentiates
important factors from less important aspects of care. Coordinates multiple complex care demands.
STAGE IV: PROFICIENT-Has 3 to 5 years of experience. Perceives situations as wholes rather than in terms of parts, as in
Stage II. Uses maxims as guides for what to consider in a situation. Has holistic understanding of the client, which improves
decision making. Focuses on long-term goals.
STAGE V: EXPERT-Performance is fluid, flexible, and highly proficient; no longer requires rules, guidelines, or maxims to
connect an understanding of the situation to appropriate action. Demonstrates highly skilled intuitive and analytic ability in
new situations. Is inclined to take a certain action because “it felt right.”
From Novice to Expert: Excellence and Power in Clinical Nursing Practice, Commemorative Edition, by P. Benner, 2001.
Electronically reproduced by permission of Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.