Analysis of the Nursing Competence of Senior Nursing Students

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyze senior nursing students' clinical competence pre-and post-clinical practice and its relationship with clinical settings. Yu's questionnaire, the Scale of Nursing Competence, was adopted for data collection and was self-administeredby 898 senior students (4th to 5th year). A total of 798 pre test and 689 post test questionnaires were returned. The results showed: (1) The students' overall competence ranked between ”competent” and ”some what competent” both pre-and postclinical practice. (2) Among the six sub-scales, interpersonal relationship (IPR)/communication was the highest and critical care the lowest on both pre and post tests. (3) After practice, all students had higher clinical competence score with statistical significance in overall competence, planning/evaluation, teaching/collaboration, IPR/communication, leadership and professional development. (4) The students' practice in medical centers showed improvement in teaching/collaboration and IPR/communication. In regional hospitals there was improvement in overall nursing professional competence, planning/evaluation, teaching/collaboration, IPR/communication and leadership. Students who rotated between hospitals showed improvement in overall competence and in all subscales except critical care. (5) Except for leadership competence,t here were no significant relationship between the competence improvement and the clinical setting.