Development and Validation of a Comprehensive Nursing Competence Assessment Questionnaire (CNCAQ) to Determine the Perceived Clinical Competence of Nursing Graduates

Abstract

Background: An assessment of the clinical competency of nurses at the time of their graduation is essential to get a fair estimate of their level of competence. It helps to lessen the burden on the healthcare system. A “Comprehensive Nursing Competence Assessment Questionnaire (CNCAQ)” has been constructed to fulfil this purpose. Aim: This study aims to develop and validate a CNCAQ to determine the perceived clinical competence of final-year nursing graduates who are about to graduate within three months from selected private and government nursing colleges in India. Methods: A mixed methodology was used and completed in two phases. In phase 1, along with an extensive literature review, focus group discussions, expert evaluation, and pretesting were done, in which 10 nursing experts participated. In phase 2, data were collected from 649 nursing graduates to establish the validity of the construct. The study period was from August to October 2022. Results: The developed CNCAQ has 36 items, comprising four sections: (a) conceptual knowledge and skill in routine nursing care; (b) skill in basic nursing procedures; (c) skill in advanced nursing procedures; and (d) assessment of infusion/transfusion-related nursing procedures. The overall reliability of the tool was 0.963, indicating its high reliability. Overall, there was no difference in clinical competency skills between female and male upcoming nursing graduates. However, statistically significant differences in basic nursing skills and advanced and analytical nursing skills were observed. Conclusions: Assessing nursing students’ competencies is crucial to ensure that they possess the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes to provide safe and effective patient care. The development and validation of a valid and reliable instrument for assessing nursing competencies are essential to evaluate nursing students’ clinical performance accurately. In the present research, a tool with a total of 36 items was used. It demonstrates high reliability; however, it needs to be applied to a larger population of nursing graduates with diverse backgrounds. Nurse educators and administrators can use it to assess the level of competence and, accordingly, a tailor-made induction program based on identified weak areas in theoretical and practical knowledge or skill can be developed. No patient’s were involved in the study. It involved developing a CNCAQ and validating it on a selected group of upcoming nursing graduates.