Recruiters are turning to a new web-based assessment tool to help evaluate candidates interested in a career in nursing, nurse.com has reported.

The pre-employment assessment tool - known as Healthcare Selection Inventory (HSI) - evaluates prospective nurses under a number of categories, including education, experience, skills and other criteria to determine whether the candidate is a good long-term fit for a health care team.

"HSI helps us to identify good job candidates in terms of customer service, retention, and job performance," said Ann Bures, a nursing recruiter at the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore.

"It gives us an idea of how they approach work and what their work ethic is like," she added.

Applicants use the system to reply to 100 multiple choice questions - the results of which indicate the potential for future successes at work.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook, compiled by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics has indicated that there are excellent prospects for those seeking a career in nursing in the coming years. Employment in this sector is set to increase by 28% between 2006 and 2016.