Effect of empowerment program on basic nursing skills of novice nurses in Iran: A randomized control trial study

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to determine the effect of the empowerment training program on performing basic nursing skills in novice nurses. Methods: This randomized control-group pretest-posttest design study was conducted on 60 nurses with less than 6 months of working experience in a hospital, southeast Iran, 2019. The subjects were divided into the intervention (n=30) and control (n=30) groups. Data were collected using the Performance Assessment Checklist, which consisted of six domains, including skills of patient safety, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), infection control, firefighting, communication, and reporting. The intervention, empowerment program, consisted of six three-hour sessions within six weeks (each topic a week), which were presented and demonstrated by experts. Data were analyzed using Chi-square, independent t-test, analysis of covariance, and Mann-Whitney U test. The significance level was set as <0.05. Results: Independent t-test revealed no significant difference in the mean scores of skills between the control and intervention groups before the intervention (P =0.775). However, after the empowerment program, the mean score of skills increased significantly in the intervention group compared with the control ones (P <0.001). Besides, novice nurses’ skills in the intervention group in patient safety, CPR, infection control, firefighting, communication, and reporting domains were dramatically increased after the empowerment program (P < 0.001). Conclusions: The empowerment program enhances nurses’ professional skills by boosting their skills. Therefore, continuing education and empowerment programs should be implemented for novice nurses to improve their professional skills.